Call of the Hunt
by RockBane
Summary: Age eleven, Naruto fails the academe test. In a moment of blind rage, his life will never be the same. An inheritance comes roaring to the surface, forcing Naruto to lose his humanity to it, to be reborn as an Uratha, a werewolf. WoD:WTF crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

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"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

**"**Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

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Chapter 1

He didn't understand why did he fail his test? What did he do wrong in the final exam? Though he's eleven years old, a year younger then when most make it Genin, he thought he was ready.

As rage of his failure surfaces, he punches the closest tree. His balled fist becomes red, he hisses in pain as he nurses his left fist. He feels a fiery rage wanting to be release. He starts off at a quick walk and within minutes, he's running flat out. He's not paying much attention to where he's going, only that he just couldn't remain where he was.

/?/Kyuubi

He feels the pull, a very familiar pull that brings out memories of how he got to this world from Hisil. He remembers his fight with Urfarah, how he was banished from Pangaea for attempting to rule over a herd of mankind. He was banished far from the boundaries to gurihal, so far in fact he couldn't even see Luna's light.

He never liked his host, something about Naruto always made him think of home, of the moon, and of Urfarah. Now he watches as the very fabric of this odd world gives way as Naruto races blindly through the forest, an odd rage that has nothing to do with him pumps though the blonde's whole body. To his amazement, Naruto passes easily through the familiar lands of Hisil and blindly, not even noticing the spirits around him, Naruto continues to charge blindly though crowds of different spirits until the boy breaks out of Hisil and falls into the realm of gurihal.

Familiar and alien smells of gurihal assaults him, even though he's in Naruto's body. Luna's very presents smoothes the merriment of emotions stirring with in him. Luna's in her crescent phase, he becomes aware that Naruto's not moving, simply kneeling on the ground, and then something occurs to not only Naruto, but to the door keeping him within Naruto.

Naruto's whole body shifts into a series of five forms, forcing Naruto onto his side. He manages to burst forth from his prison, but this doesn't seem to affect Naruto in the way it should. As he stands over Naruto's physical body, he begins to realize why the seal doesn't work as it should.

(His humanity, it's not his natural state…) He muses in the First Tongue. He turns as wolf like beasts begin to approach the child. He growls warningly, but this only causes the pack of twenty to eye him warily before they're attention returns to Naruto.

He unleashes a bit of his rage, his intent on killing them if they get too close. (We just want our new brother…) One of the new comers says to him. (He's not yours to have!) He snaps at the pack, he can see some spirit making itself known to him.

The speaker snorts. (Would you rather him become Urdaga? One of Urfarah's murders?) The speak challenges. He looks surprised at hearing that his banisher was dead. (So, that flea ridden excuse of a canine is dead, is he? Good riddens, saves me the task of killing him myself, and that's more of a reason to keep the kit from joining you.) He remarks, he notices how the pack bristles at the insult.

(How dare you…) Another of the pack says and he cuts them off, (I dare because I'm the Kyuubi! That flea bitten canine thought he owned both sides of the world! Since you side with him, I shall not let you see dawn!) He growls, he expands his size as he becomes materializes that stands just under seventy feet tall.

Without any warning, he lashes out with his tails, spearing those behind him as he attempts to attack those before him. The rage spirit materializes in the form of a tiger and attempts to attack him in order to defend the pack of wolfish beasts that might just be Urfarah's children. He allows the full extent of his rage to hit them, he learnt this technique from watching Ninjas use it to intimate others.

It works as all of them are so over come with terror that they freeze up. Before any of them can recover, he's killed them. He studies the bodies and then begins to consume them in order to hide their demise; he's slightly surprised to find that in death, they take the forms of men and women.

He frowns, he doesn't want to leave Naruto alone for the simple fact that he knows next to nothing of the changes this world has been through and he doesn't want to leave the gurihal since he prefers to have a physical body. He examines Naruto closely and in the end, found that his old cage within Naruto's belly was still there and that there wasn't a door to keep him in either. He sighs as he becomes more spirit then body and moves into that room.

With all the excitement and the battle, it's not long before he's resting in his den within Naruto. His meal slowly being digested within his gut, his dreams were filled with ideas of what he can now bring about without worrying about that wolf god being there to foil his plans.

/?/Naruto

He woke naked and he could smell blood, not his blood though, around him. He shivers slightly, more from the chill in the air then from the scene that greeted him. Though he sees blood, he doesn't see any dead bodies around him, which causes him to frown slightly.

He found he can identify about twenty individual scents; all of them had this common scent that's not coming from him. He finally gets up off the ground and looks around to try and identify where he was. He doesn't remember much from what happened last night, he blames it on the blind run, figuring it exhausted him before he was overcome with a sensation where his body was like liquid and was more then willing to reform itself into different body types.

He's careful on where he steps, do he doesn't get blood on him. He doesn't try and salvage his cloths, they were pretty much rags, that includes his prized goggles as well. He's aware of the odd sounds that's east of his position, so he heads in that direction, curious as to what's making that sound.

It's not long before he finds a guy riding on some kind of metal thing as it leaves a trail of cut grass in its wake. The man riding on the thing doesn't seem to know he's there and he manages to bolt pass behind the metal moving thing as it continues on its path of eating grass. His stomach growls as he smells pancakes on the wind.

He follows the scent, being careful to keep to the tree line so he's not seen. He notices more then a few things that made him realise that he's no long in Hidden Leaf, which caused a mixture of feelings swirl within him. He's pauses as he finds a large black path with lines of paint on it.

He keeps to the tree line and almost jumps as some noisy red thing on wheels, reminding him strongly of the metal thing that was eating grass, moves on the wide black rock path with lines on it. A few more also appear, but were heading the opposite direction and were much farther away from him. He studies this for a time; he begins to understand something of what's going on in front of him.

Once he's sure that nothing was coming from his right or his left, he runs across the black rock path and manages to make it to the tree line on the other side. He lost the scent, but he notices houses a few miles from the path with fences. He frowns as he realises that his nakedness will most likely attract unwanted attention.

He makes a familiar hand seal for Henge. He releases some Chakra but nothing happens. He grumbles to himself as he begins to wonder what's going on with his Chakra, since it's there but not obeying what he wants it to do.

He takes a deep, calming breathe and begins to look within himself in order to find what's going on. He finds something he knows causes change and brings up a small form. His body explodes with fur as his body shrinks and reshapes itself into something a kin to a canine, not as big as some of those dogs that Inuzukas were known for breeding.

He finds himself in the body of a wolf, a dusty golden wolf with dashes of black and white. He sighs, deciding that for now, he'll make do with this body since he doubts few can tell he's actually a wolf… He loops towards the distant houses, glad that he's no longer skin naked or chilly now that he has a fur coat to protect him from the morning chill.

Once he reaches the first fenced yard, he easily leaps over it since it's about four feet tall. He finds plenty of interesting things in said yard but he's looking for either something to eat or something to wear, so he heads to the side of the house, once more leaping over a fence. He pauses as he finds one of those black path travelers resting on the grey stone slop.

He sniffs the tires, the sides of the thing, he can tell it belongs to at least two people since that's the smells that he's picking up from either sides. Once he's sure that it's not going to attack him or move, he turns his attention to what's behind the coloured metal rolling thing. Once more he spots the familiar black rock path, only it looks more worn out then the one he crossed.

He notices a few people walking about in colourful cloths, a few glance his way but other wise dismiss his presence as they continue walking on the segmented path that lines either side of the black rock path. He takes his time since he can smell loads of things and doesn't know just what to investigate first.

He glances down one side of the black rock path and then the other. In the end, he decided to try his luck to where there are different kinds of buildings figuring that if he remains around these houses, someone might call animal control to root him out. With his mind made up, he trots off in his chosen direction, hoping that he'll find both clothing and food where he's heading.

o!o

He found food long before he found anything to dress up in. He noticed cloth lines between apartment buildings, none of which looked like they'd fit him though so he didn't pay them more then a glance. It had taken him most of the morning to get to this busy area of this place that he might call a city or village, he's never been out of Hidden Leaf before so he doesn't know if this was classified as a city or not.

As the sun traveled through the sky, more and more people became active and a large variety of metal rolling things became more common then he expected. He also discovered that those metal curved posts with lights on them seem to have the power to direct which metal things can move across intersections of black rock paths with painted lines. He also observed people walking in between twin lines as the metal curved posts direct the set of metal things to move parallel of the walkers.

This relieved him since it meant that people had considered walkers walking across the black rock path. He almost began to wonder if people living here were insane or just plain unstable, but then as he watches people enter and exit out of those colourful metal things, he's still unsure if they're not insane since he doesn't see the point of using those metal things to travel around either. He also found that they don't speak a language he understands in the slightest, though he has heard whispers on the wind that he knows wasn't his native tongue but he understands most of it none the less.

He's getting tired of all this traveling around, he hasn't a clue to how far he is from where he started but he's sure that taking a bit of a rest in an alley was in order, if only to help give him a chance to recover from all this walking around he's been doing. He finds a nice spot where the crowds won't find him and curls up into a ball. He closes his eyes and within seconds, he's in a deep sleep.

o!o

He woke as the sun was setting. He stretches out like a cat, he then glances around to asses what's going on around him. He gives himself a shake and then walks towards the segmented path where people walk. He stay alert as he walking down the path. In time, he finds another restaurant and he slips by the back kitchen door. He watches the activity going on, he smells some raw bloody meat a few times, he watches as the chiefs put the slabs of meat onto a grill, cooking the meat.

But he's patient and when two slabs were unattended, he slips into the kitchen and manages to gulp one down and take off with the other steak before anyone enters into the kitchen. Once he's a few miles away, he savours the second steak, he would be purring with pleasure if he were a cat. He licks his forepaws clearing of the blood before he heads off on his quest for cloths.

He passes by many different numbers of humans on his continuing quest to find something to wear. His ears perk as he hears a slightly different dialect of his native tongue. He slows up and glances across the street to find a group of teens chatting about robbing a place. He opts to follow the gang, hoping to find what he's looking for as well as someone to explain the things he's seen.

The group of eight take to the back ways, he finds it's a challenge to stalk the group without them knowing he's doing so. Doing so stirs something in him for some unknown reason, but it gives him a chance to try out his tracking skills, though he finds it easy to follow their trail since he has taken time to remember their scent. He notices how jumpy the gang was getting from their scent; he slows down before picking up his pace once more.

As expected, when he had slowed up, the gang seem to think they're just being paranoid; therefore, they brush it off with some joking. While the fact that they were fear was intoxicating, he reminds himself that he's following them for a different reason and he should try and keep his distance from them. He's glad they finally made it to their destination, which was some kind of store, from the looks of it; it's closed since there wasn't any light coming through the window.

The gang breaks through the back door, they headed straight to get cash as well as to grab what they wanted from the store's inventory. Once they're gone, he slips into the building and examines what's inside. Soon he finds some cloths in the back that most likely will fit him, though he couldn't find underwear.

He picks out a plain white shirt, a black vest, faded blue pants that were made out of some kind of tough fabric, socks, and sandals. He leaves the store before someone investigates the break in. He heads off in the general direction that the gang took off in.

After wondering about aimlessly, he finally came across a written language he's familiar with. Soon he finds others speaking different dialects of his native tongue, something which reassured him that he's not alone in the world. He finds an open café and settles down at a table with a book that the store supplies. It's not long before he realises that the manga is more fantasy then fact, but it does help give him an understanding of what this world is like.

The theme of the book was during this Warring States Era, the main character was a teenage girl living at a shrine, how's also suppose to be a reincarnated priestess. The title was Inu-Yasha, which means Dog Demon, though the character with that name was only a half Dog Demon. What interest him weren't the parts about life in the Warring States Era, but the parts about the modern world.

He managed to find another manga which was placed in this modern world before he was kicked out of the café for not buying anything. He made a note to find a library in this end of town, from what the manga had says, this part of 'town' was call China Town, he figures it's where you'd find Asian specking people, which apparently he was since his tongue was called Japanese.

He drifts around this section of this city, he's getting the lay out of the area since he's most likely be hanging around this part of town until he learnt to read, write, and speak English. By midnight, the stores close and some gangs take control of the night life. Not wanting to get into a conflict, he finds a beat up house that's said to be haunted.

He spots something in a shadow; he glares at the spot until he feels something leave. Once that's done, he begins to explore the building. He encounters the spirit once more, this time it's backed with a few others. He smells disease, aggression, and ash. The five spirits attack him, all of them wanting him gone from 'their' house.

He manages to dodge most of their attacks and land a few punches on them, he's surprised to find said punches connecting with them. He focuses on the one with aggression since it's the one that's willing to have a fist fight with him. Soon he managed to grab a stick and with a roar, he stabs the spirit in what should be its skull. This weakness the spirit and he remembers a tactic he's seen older ninjas use, soon the spirits were fleeing out of the building, though from what he understands, they'll be back to kill him before he knows it.

With a snort, he begins to take inventory of what's been left behind by the place's previous inhabitant. He finds a few mattresses, a few blankets, and pillows for him to use as bedding. He locates what he thinks it money, a few knifes, old pictures, a lamp, and finally books. He decides to stay on the main floor, so he takes what he found and claims a room. He plugs in the lamp in order to get more light in the room so he can set things up the way he wants them to be.

Since he wasn't exhausted, he picks out one of the books and begins to read it. He's in luck, it's a history book, he prays to whatever being that will listen to him and thanks them for his luck. Soon he's engrossed into the book, not paying much attention to anything around him, he's focused on not just memorising what he's reading but to understanding what's being explained to him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

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"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

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Chapter 2

He woke up from a restful sleep. He went to sleep after he finished the history book, now he rested and ready to begin his next self appointed quest, find somebody willing to teach him how to read, write, and speak English. He pauses and sniffs himself, his lips curl with disgust and he heads up to what was the bathroom in hopes that it has running water.

He frowns as he realises that this place doesn't have running water. He sighs and decides to find a place where he can have a shower, but he'll focus on that later, firstly, he wants to find something to eat and something to drink, he's suddenly thirsty now that he knows that there wasn't anything running water. Before he goes, he picks up the bundle of paper bills and coins, pocketing them in his vest's pocket.

It's about noon from what he can tell and the streets were busy with not just cars on the streets, he found that word used in the history book, but also crowds of people heading off to have lunch. He suddenly feels homesick and loneliness so vast that it almost feels like it's engulfing him erupts within his being. He fights back the tears that threaten to fall, fighting those feelings as best as he could as he hopes to banish them from the fore front of his mind and heart.

Once he regains control of himself, he heads into the crowd, trying not to show any unease as he walks through the crowd. In time, he finds a restaurant that looks suitable, he enters into the restaurant. **"**Do you serve Ramen?**"** He asks a waitress. She nods and picks up a menu before motioning him to follow her, he follows her to a table, and once she puts the menu down, he sits down. He gives her a smile before she leaves him, he sighs in relief that there was a section of the menu written in Japanese.

When a waiter arrives to fill a glass with water, he puts in his order. The waiter doesn't have any trouble understanding him though, he had noted that the waiter seemed surprise when he ordered in Japanese… He sighs and takes a sip of his water, his studies the restaurant's internal.

He listens to a few conversations, though most of it was in a language he couldn't understand. He guesses some of it was Chinese and not English. As he begins to consume his meal, he notices a sharp scent of decay before the power was cut. He hurries to finish his Ramen before confronting whatever spirits were going to arrive.

The smell of decay was beginning to become overpowering and on instinct he ducks. He kicks out his feet, attempting to trip whatever was behind him. A thunk follows that movement and he stands quickly, looking for a weapon to use.

The spirit curses, he only understood about every fourth word though. He heads towards the kitchen, hoping to find a knife to use. People were panicking, he doubts they know what's going on but something was telling them to leave in a hurry. He's relieved about that, seeing as he doesn't want people to get hurt in the fight that's already occurring between him and this spirit of decay.

He almost doesn't make it as some kind of bolt of energy hits the door just as he enters into the kitchen. He feels around for something sharp, on finding one, he hisses slightly as he cuts the palm of his hand on the blade before he finds the hilt. His head snaps towards the door as it opens and the scent of decay is once more presence in the air.

A low growl comes from his throat as he feels that rage from before begins to flow through him. He snarls as he charges the spirit, his left hand slashing the air with the knife he found. The blade must have connected as the spirit hiss and says a curse before it lashes out at him; a fist connects with his head and another with his shoulder. He just snarls and lashes out with both hands, his right balling into a fist. He lands three hits with his right while the knife digs into the spirit's body.

The scent of rot causes him to back away. He finds another knife, one much longer then the one in his left hand. He leans forward, red tinged his vision. His vision seems to improve, he figures his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. He watches the rotting body that's the spirit as the spirit begins to do something, he watches as odd coloured energy begins to gather between the spirit's four weaving arms and hands.

He gets a really bad feeling about what's going to happen, his body begins to once more under go a shift, fur begins to erupt over his body as his bones and muscles rearrange themselves. His senses improve; it was as if some his nose and his ears had plugs in them as his eyes were covered up in a blind fold. His cloths vanish he notices vaguely, though he's focus was on the spirit before him.

He a true snarl, he leaps at the spirit, irrupting it's muttering chanting. He lashes out with the knifes in his fists, the spirit screeches soundlessly as it finds it can't defend itself from his onslaught. They enter into the lounge, he rakes the two knifes across the spirit's face. As the spirit does something that cause him to be pushed back, as the spirit attempts to flee, he throws the knife in his right hand and then throws the last knife. The first hits the spirit in the back of its head while the last one in the spirit's spine.

The spirit screeches before it fades from existence, the knives fall to the ground. He turns and flees out of the lounge as he hears someone come into the building. He falls forward, his body rapidly changing its shape into that of a wolf. He doesn't stop as he flees into the alley and sticks to the alleys as he doesn't want to be seen by the gathering crowd in front of the building.

o!o

Once he felt he put enough distance between him and the restaurant, he transforms back to normal. He blinks and finds the clothes he was wearing was once more on his body. Once he recovers from this oddity, he decides it's time to ask for direction to the closest library.

He glances around just to be sure that nothing was following him or watching him. Considering he's encountered spirits twice within twenty-four hours, he's wary of encountering more before he's gotten a chance to rest. He headed off towards the street, he begins to walk through the street, still slightly unnerved by the cars and other odd things that were similar in build to a car.

He finds a book shop and enters into it. He glances up as bells chime as he opens the door. He notices that the cashier was talking with two customers, so he took his time looking at the collection of books that reside in the store. He frowns as he notices that he didn't understand most of the titles.

It wasn't until he made it to the back did he find books written in Japanese. He skims through a few books; most of them were fictional though he did find a few about recent history, which was different from the book he found at his current lair, seeing as it only about something, call World War 2. He picks out the ones he wants to buy and heads up to the counter. **"**I want these; also, could I get directions to the closest library?**"** He asks the girl behind the counter. The girl blinks, just staring at him before saying, **"**Not speak Japanese.**"**

They stare at each other; he cocks his head to the side as she speaks English. It takes a while for the girl behind the counter to figure out he doesn't have a clue to what she's saying. The girl takes out a note pad and writes something, he frowns as he stares at it. He sighs and shakes his head, he writes something and it's her turn to frown.

The girl holds up a single finger before heading into the back room, calling out to someone back there. A bunch of scuffing and an elderly woman comes into view. **"**So, you don't know a bit of English, eh? Kind of odd considering you look nothing like a Japanese is suppose to look like.**"** The woman says, clearly amused about this. **"**Sorry, I think. I'm kind of new to the area and I never learnt, though I am interested in learning. I want to buy these and could you direct me to the closest library?**"** He asks her.

The woman looks thoughtful, he notices that there's something about the pair's scent that kind of reminded him of the blood he seen on the grass when he woke up in this odd city. It's not that strong, but it's there, which makes him wonder if the two were somehow connected. **"**I doubt that you'd be able to find what you need at the library, they don't have a decent collection of books written in anything other then English. I also think it would do my niece some good to learn Japanese.**"** The lady says, he perks at this, hoping what the grown up was suggesting what he thinks she's suggesting.

"Uzumaki Naruto.**"** He introduces himself. **"**June Nancy, this is my sister's daughter, Russell Kim.**"** Nancy says. He nods, out of the corner of his eye; Kim seems to be suspicious about what's going on between Kim's aunt and him.

Soon he's walking out of the store, he's glad about the arrangement he made with Nancy. He also has the four books he wanted too. He heads off to the beat up house that he claims as his living quarters. He doesn't feel hungry; he knows it's not from the Ramen he consumed at that restaurant either.

He did wonder though, did anyone notice his absents from Hidden Leaf? If they did, did they miss him? Or did they celebrate? His mood dims slightly as he thinks about such things, he sighs, knowing he wouldn't find an answer any time soon.

o!o

It's been about two weeks since his encounter with that spirit of decay, he's run into about three more powerful spirits but has been more or less victorious since they're the ones either fleeing before him or were destroyed by him. He also began to notice the under lining scent of spirits and could most likely trail them if he picks up a descent scent, though he finds it easier to pick up such smells in his wolf body, or even that humanoid wolfish like body.

In time, he fell into a routine; he'd wake up at some point in the morning and head off to find a butcher shop to steal from. Have something to eat and then train until it's time for him to met up with Nancy and Kim at their shop. He'd spend two hours there, learning as much English he can as well as helping Kim with her Japanese, both spoken and written. He'd then spent about an hour manning the counter while Kim helps her aunt in the back.

He usually got five dollars from that hour of watching the front counter; he would then sometimes head off to nab something to eat in a restaurant, paying for his meal before returning to his place to read his books. So far, things have been going his way, but he can't help but feel that something was on the horizon. Privately, he thinks it might have something to do with the spirits of this area, he could only guess that they're just biding their time, gathering reinforcements, maybe even waiting for the right moment to strike.

He walks through the park closest to his place. He watches families, couples, and friends just hang out on the grass, though kids seem to prefer the jungle equipment set up for them to play on. Some of the friends hanging out were shunned by some, especially those that look threatening. He guesses they're local gangs from the way they glare in his direction ever so often.

He guesses its cause he looks so much like a foreigner in their way of thinking, that they're just plain offended by his presence. He finds it so different then where he's from, he remembers Sakura and her green eyes and pink hair and his crushes ex-best friend, Ino and her blue eyes and pale yellow hair. _'Sasuke won't have trouble fitting in here.'_ He thinks sourly as he looks at a few of the 'true' Japanese.

At the thought of Mr Perfect, as he's heard girls call him, he feels resentment cover over him, remembering times when that stuck up bastard would do something as if it's trivial, like almost performing the basic clone jutsu perfectly on his first try. He takes few seconds to calm himself, reminding him that the bastard wasn't here so he can't beat the crap out of him to make himself feel better. He notes that he's much more easily angered then he was before he came here, sure he might act out raged, but he really wasn't since he learnt early on that letting people know you're angry just gives them something more to hold over your head.

His head perks up; something organic hits his nose, snapping him out of his thoughts. The scent fades and he wonders where it came from, especially since it created a longing he hadn't had before. **"**I'm just plain screwed up aren't I?**"** He mutters under his breath as he heads towards the pool so he can have a shower.

He enters into the boy's side for free; nobody gives him a second glance since they're all busy doing something else, caught up in their problems and thoughts. He finds an empty stale and takes off his stolen clothes. He waits until he doesn't hear anyone around and then comes out of the stale. Within less then five minutes, he's done with the shower and borrows a towel to dry off, once done; he puts the towel back to where he found it.

He heads off out of the boy's side of the entrance. He runs his hands through his hair, a few shakes and it's slightly spiky, like he likes it. He sighs as he realises he'll need a hair cut soon, his hair's getting too long for his way of spiking it to work.

As he heads to his lair, he feels as if somebody's trailing him. A few glances over his shoulder reveal that a gang of teens were following him. He snorts softly, but as he walks a few plans formed. In the end, he opted for the direct approach; he was a ninja in training after all, even if his body can alter itself into a wolfish being and a wolf. He begins to discretely look at every alley he passed, looking for one that would suit his purpose, mainly a fire escape and a dark, forbidding place where it'll set the mood.

He found it, a quick look at where the gang was; he estimated how long it'll take them to catch up. Then as quick as he can be, he ducks into the alley and within a few seconds, he's scrambled up the fire escape and waits in a window, the shadow from the wall helping to mask his presence from the gang that's just arrived within the alley. He watches as the gang bangers, a total of eight, look about the alley in search of him.

He waits until they're too fragmented to attack as a group, he silently moves from his position, glad to have taken off his sandals even if the metal feels cold to the touch. He's amused that after their first initial glances upwards, they've dismissed him being above them as a possibility. He moves to the outside of the metal bars, waiting for the teen to come almost under him before he makes his presence known.

He lets go and drops a few inches behind the teen. Without a warning, he sucker punches the teen in the stomach and kicks the guy in the balls, not feeling any guilt since the teen's cries attract the rest of the gangs' attention. He takes the metal pipe from where the guy dropped it and was already attacking the one coming up from behind him. True, he does get attack from behind and does get injured from the shade wearing member of the gang.

He smirks as he gets to his feet from being thrown into the closest wall. **"**Is that all you got, bastards? Pitiful, I've seen elderly women with stronger arms then what you have!**"** He taunts the group; the hits weren't even aching like they should. The remaining five gang members attack, his first two victims were still out of commission.

Sure, he got more injuries like a stab wound from a knife, he had a series of nicks, though they were healed by the time he finished going through the gang bangers' pockets. He took money from their wallets, a pair of shades, and took the knife that stabbed him. He heads back up the fire escape to get his sandals. He puts on his new shades as he heads out of the alley, he knows that they're going to be sore about this and might try again, but he's confident in his ability to defend himself and that they won't report what happened to local authorities since they're most likely guilty of similar attacks on other people before the attempted to beat him up.

He heads off to his place with his new items. He's going to add the bundle of bills to his money stash. He might not have had a good day, but it wasn't a total waste in his view of things. He knows sooner or later, the gangs in the area will make attempts on him, be it for injured pride or to one up their rivals. _'Now I have to deal with gangs along with spirits, I might as well just start putting up boundary markers.'_ He muses to himself; the last part amuses him since he could just guess how that would go over with the locals.

/?/Kyuubi

He waits for Naruto to fall asleep before he emerges from the blonde's belly. He's learnt quite a bit by observing things from within Naruto, he's slightly pleased to find out that none of the local squatters and land owners could sense him within the pup that's half spirit and half flesh. He moves out of the building, he had finally decided that it's time to remind his children and their's that they still own their allegiance to him.

At the top of the building, he throws back his head and yowls to the sky, calling his eldest child to him. He then waits for Nido to arrive, which wasn't long. On seeing him, his son just openly stares at him, as if Nido expected this to be some kind of hoax. (Is that any way to greet your father, whelp?) He says gruffly and Nido's jaws snap shut.

(Greetings, father. I hadn't expected to find you here, in gurihal.) Nido says softly after sitting before him. Once his son was sat down, he himself sits down. (And why shouldn't I find my way back to gurihal, Nido? It was in this realm I wished to settle down in, to claim tracks of land as my territory, which makes it your's to a lesser extant.) He muses, Nido shifts uncomfortably. (I had just thought that Urfarah's children would have found you is all. They have been locating and dealing with idigams more often now a day.) Nido says.

(Tell me about these children, Nido. I'm curious about why I should fear the spirit children of that wretched wolf? It's not like there are any of those types around this city.) He says, he could hazarded a guess as to which branch his son's talking about, but he wants to gather all the information he can without revealing the fact that he's pretty much living with a descendant of Ufarah's, a descendant that's part flesh and spirit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3

He nods thoughtfully as Nido asks for permission to leave, to return to his hunting grounds in Hisil. He watches as his eldest son far'huf back into Hisil. He can only guess what master his children were serving, but he knows that in the end, it doesn't matter since all his children and their's were his, that their vows to him had more pull over any they've recently made with another lord or two.

Dawn approaches and he gets up off the roof, he heads back to where his fleshy lair lies fast asleep. He knows that soon he'll have to deal with Naruto, if only to create a working relationship to the pup. He snorts softly as he muses privately to himself as he re-enters into his lair within Naruto's belly. _'If this world doesn't suffice, then I'll find away back to Naruto's birth world and set up territory there. Besides, I still have unfinished business there and one mustn't let it go too long unattended after all.'_

/?/Naruto

He watches as Kim frowns at the paint stains on her fingers after a hard hour of attempting to paint a picture of a bowl of fruit. Unlike Kim, he's English was better then her Japanese, though he's still having some trouble writing it. But he admits, English was so much easier to use as a written language then to writing in Kanji, formal or otherwise.

There were only twenty-six letters instead of hundreds and hundreds of characters meaning something similar but different. While remembering the letters were easy, it was much harder to remember how to arrange them to form words. But he was slowly getting the hang of it though he does get confused with similarly sounding words like 'Their' and 'There.' One means belonging to somebody while the other one means a destination or a point of reference.

A highly motivating reason why he's pushing himself in his studies was so he can learn how to work a computer. He's seen Kim's lap top and he just itched to give it a try, especially to check out this internet that suppose to help you find tons of information. Sure he's a bit interested in this games Kim talks about, but mostly it's the information he's interested in.

"Why paint?" He asks, he knows from Kim's look that he said that wrong. "You mean, why am I painting?" Kim says and he nods, Kim looks slightly amused, from what he can tell, Kim seemed to find his attempts at speaking proper English cute and enduring. "I promised my mom that I'd work on my artistic ability." Kim says to him, he shrugs before returning to his task.

"So, what are you're parents like?" Kim asks, he jerks slightly. "Don't know. Nobody wants me to know about them." He answers, hoping he got most of the grammar right. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Kim says as soon as Kim heard. "I'm guessing orphan, huh?" Kim says after a few minutes. He nods once he remembers the English word for orphan sounded like.

There was awkwardness between them until Kim's aunt Nancy comes into the back to check on them. Nancy glances between them before the elderly lady decided that they had enough and that he can work the front counter, which he was glad to do since he's currently not feeling comfortable right now because of Kim's inquiries. It really didn't help that it brought up a slew of memories of him watching families at the park when he was younger.

Even now, those wounds were still fresh, still raw. While sitting at the counter, his mind wasn't really where he was at that moment of time, but going through his memories of Hidden Leaf. He understands that in a way, he's better off in this city as none around here seem to single him out like what the villagers and some of the ninja do. Here he can understand why people see him as different and that it doesn't really affect his relationships with shop owners and other such people.

While he's not really sure if he's a monster or not, he does know that it's not natural for one to alter one's shape to the degree he seems to be able to do. He remembers the blood on the grass surrounding his form when he first woke, that smell while different, seem to be related to him somehow. Which in the end means that there are more like him and that, hopefully, when he comes mean up with one of his own, they're friendly.

He's snapped out of his thoughts as he hears his name being called by Kim. "Yo, Naruto? Earth to Naruto." He blinks as he turns to the brunet with hazel eyes. "Kim?" He says and Kim smiles rudely at him. "About time you responded! It took eight tries to get your attention." Kim says mockingly. "Just thinking." He admits. "I can see that. So, you want to go clothes shopping with us or not?" Kim asks him. He blinks in confusion, not sure if he understood what Kim's offering him.

"You want me to go?" He asks her and Kim nods. "You've been wearing the same thing since we met. Either you really like those cloths or you just don't know what to look for." Kim says and he smiles nervously at that. "I don't got enough money on me to get anything." He says. "So we'll pay for it." Kim says dismissingly. He frowns before saying, "I got money, just don't carry it on me." He tries again and Kim's eyes light up. "Sorry, I didn't mean… ah shit." Kim says and he just looks at Kim in confusion, not understanding why Kim's so flustered.

"I guess we can stop off at your place so you can pick up what you need. I'll just go and tell aunty that we'll met her at the Shack." Kim says and he watches as she hurries into the back, he wonders if he's missing something here, but decides that for now, he doesn't want to ask Kim what's wrong. He doesn't want to alienate her, especially since she is one of the two people around that have hints of that scent he found in common with those pools of blood back when he first woke up.

o!o

"You live here?" Kim asks with a hint of fear and uncertainty. "I do." He replies. "But it's haunted!" Kim hisses, he glances at her, surprised to find out that people had known about the spirits that once called the ruined house home. "I chased them out." He says with a shrug and then heads to the front door; it takes a few seconds before Kim follows him into the building.

He heads to his room as Kim attempts to stay within two feet of him as they walk through the house. He can smell her fear but he didn't know how to reassure her since he's never had anyone other then the Third take time out to comfort him. It's not long before they make it to the room he's claimed as his bedroom. He turns on the lamp, which almost causes Kim to leap away from him.

"Don't do that!" Kim hisses at him in a low voice. "Nobody's here." He says calmly. "There's ghosts!" Kim counters and he turns around to stare at her. "I chased them out." He repeats. "You can't chance ghosts out of a haunted building! They're bounded to this place until they've fulfilled their final purposes." Kim tells him, he once more just stares at her in puzzlement.

'_They haven't returned since I speared that spirit in the head. Sure, they're none to pleased with me, but then, I get the feeling that even if I had just asked for them to leave they would have put up a fight. Be sides, I haven't done nothing to those other spirits and they were hell bend on killing me.'_ He thinks to himself, he turns away as he retrieves a roll of bills. He pockets them and says, "I drove the spirits out. They haven't returned since." He hopes that came out right, he's still new at this language after all.

Kim frowns slightly before she asks, "Just how long have you been living here?" He replies, "A good two weeks, I was living here for about a day before I first met you." Kim blinks and seems to be stunned by that revelation. "Really?" Kim says softly and he nods, he can tell this seems to calm Kim's fears as well as her muscles; she doesn't look as stiff as when she first entered into the house with him.

Soon they're heading off to the store that Kim promised her aunt that they'd meant at. They didn't talk, mostly because Kim's deep in thought and he doesn't know the right way to ask things that he's curious about. As they began down a semi deserted street, his hackles were raised as he gets the feeling that they're not alone.

Kim seems to sense this as he stops. He begins to sniff the air, scan around to not only pick something up with his eyes, but also in hopes of hearing something. Mist begins to roll in, scent of water, pissed, and sewage becomes pungent. Kim comes up to his back; he can tell she's fearful of what's happening around them.

"What's going on?" Kim asks in a really low voice, he feels pity for Kim since he can tell she's frightened beyond belief. "They've finally decided to make their move. You might want to back up, Kim. I don't think you'll be comfortable with what I'm about to do." He says to the eleven year old turning twelve year old on August tenth, which was quiet a few weeks away. "What are you going to do?" Kim asks, clearly not going to budge, so he walks forward a few steps and then feels his body undergo the familiar change into that wolfish looking human body.

Kim gasps, but by then, the spirits were already charging out of the open man holes. He counts about five pollution spirits, three hate filled spirits, and about eight spirits that appear to be enraged vermin spirits. While he wishes he had a weapon, something long and preferably sharp, he would have even made deal of something short and blunt if only to have something to use besides his fists to inflict injuries with.

Though vastly out numbered, he doesn't back down, knowing instinctively that wouldn't help his situation, let alone would it spare Kim from their fury. He goes straight for one of the pollution spirits; howl escapes him as he lashes his fury at the attacking spirit. The other spirits let loose their own war cries as they attack him in turn.

/?/Kyuubi

He growls as he realises what's going on, while Naruto wasn't aware of the vast horde creeping up from the surrounding area, he knew that if he didn't act quickly, the pup would be a corpse soon. So he charges forth out of his lair, allowing all of his killing lust out in waves, causing more then a few spirits to freeze up. As he stands tall, not at his true height though since that's well over a hundred miles in the air, just as tall as those buildings around him with his nine tails weaving a pattern above the spirits' heads.

(The pups belong to me!) He growls out in the First Tongue before squishing the spirits attempting to go for the female pup. The spirits try to flee but he'd have none of it and as Naruto stares up at him with disbelief in his eyes, he leaves none alive. He feasts on their essence, something that Naruto had done to the few he's killed.

Once that's done, he glances down at Naruto, their eyes met before he once more heads back to his den within Naruto's belly. He sighs mentally, knowing that the sooner he confronts Naruto about why he's living within him, the less amount of time for Naruto to come up with wilder conclusions and become too stubborn to listen to him. He'll also have to come up with some bans to impose on Naruto when they make a pact to work together. He couldn't do anything too harmony breaking, preferly something that Naruto would do anyways without the ban in place.

/?/Naruto

He couldn't believe what he just saw, let alone what he just finished hearing. _'But I thought the Fourth killed him!'_ This thought continues to go through his head, keeping him from figuring out that he's still in his more then human body.

"Naruto? Are you ok?" Kim asks him, he turns to look over at her before nodding slightly. "Good, now if you don't mind, could you maybe, I don't know, transform back into a human?" Kim says and he glances down at his current form before he feels sheepish and slightly stupid for now transforming back as soon as the fox appeared.

Once more in what is his birth form, he looks guiltily at Kim, not sure what to say. Kim also seems to be just as uncertain as him about what to do or say. "Shouldn't we keep going? I mean, your aunt is waiting for us." He says softly and Kim nods, looking more confident now that they have a goal to achieve. "Right." Kim says and then she takes the lead, though for some unknown reason, the fact she doesn't try to avoid being close to him makes him feel a whole lot better. He's glad that she's not trying to flee from him nor is she asking tons of questions about what he was and about everything that just happened in the last few minutes. His hopes of her accepting him burns brightly in him, seeing that she has the ability to become what he is if he reads her scent right.

o!o

He bought some socks, a pair of runners, three pairs of shorts, two pairs of jeans, an orange hoodie, two long sleeve shirts, five underwear garments, another vest, a wind breaker, eight T-shirts, swim trunks, an alert clock, a watch, a trunk, and finally, a cooler for him to store bottles of water in. Nancy also showed him where the laundry mats are, so he can wash his cloths when they get too dirty. He had more then enough to pay for his items, he also learnt about what kind of currency was used and about how to tell the bills apart as well.

He wasn't the only one to buy stuff, just the only one to buy a lot of stuff. Kim got a tank top and a pair of shades while Nancy bought some cleaning products as well as a few movies. Nancy was going grocery shopping later, after they split up. With a departing glance in Kim's direction, he heads off carrying his trunk that's filled with his purchases.

/?/Kim

She watches the blonde head off, it was odd, but for a few minutes, she wished that Naruto was still with them. She didn't understand it but she felt safe with the blonde boy who's her own age, even though he's a werewolf and every horror film says their savage beasts that are hell bend on killing humans and howling at the full moon. _'But he did try to protect me from those… things, does that make him evil just because he's able to change his form? He did warn me and even put some space between us before transforming into that more humanish wolf body. Why couldn't those things just hold off attacking us until he's off on his own?'_ She thinks to herself, not sure what to make of the world at this moment, it's as if everything she knew was just some kind of skin hiding something more…

"So, what happened from when you left the store to arriving at the Shack?" Her great aunt asks. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you." She says after a few seconds, they were heading back to the shop to drop off their purchases. They'll be going across the city to get groceries, taking her aunt's hummer. "Try me." Her great aunt says, she looks down at the pavement and kicks it with her right foot.

"We were in this deserted street; it was like something drove everyone off just to set up this trap." She begins and her aunt jerks slightly back, giving her a piercing look. "Wait until we're at the store to continue." Her aunt Nancy says sharply, too sharply in her opinion but she doesn't ask what's the matter.

Once they're in her aunt's room, her aunt motions for her to sit on the bed. She does and Nancy begins to pace. "Let me guess, things appear, things that were nightmare beings that inspire strong emotions, such as rage, fear, maybe even despair?" Her aunt asks and she nods, suddenly wondering how her aunt could know. "Then suddenly, these wolf human hybrids show up and attack these things? On seeing them, you felt an overwhelming desire to flee, to forget what you saw…" Her aunt says, she's kind of confused, but she gathers something like this happened to her great aunt once.

"No pack came, aunty. Naruto… he didn't transform into some kind of hybrid, he lacked a tail among other things. He looked more like a hairy human." She says after a few minutes of silence, that snaps her great aunt out of it. "Naruto transformed? What happened next?" Her aunt asks and she goes on to describe what happened, including the appearance of the nine-tailed fox from within Naruto and how it seemed to re-enter into a dumbfounded Naruto after dealing with the horde of things.

"What do you know about this? You don't seem surprise that something like this could happen." She says to her aunt. "It was eight years ago, you know your second cousin Dustin? Well, I was concerned about him when he began to act strangely during the family reunion at the time; you were just three years old at the time so you don't really remember it very well…"

Her aunt says, trailing off. "Anyway, I got lost and was suddenly attacked by this monstrous rabid raccoon spirit. I managed to hide behind a stand of trees and as it was advancing, about twelve of these … werewolves arrived on the scene and on noticing me in the stand before the werewolves attacked the rabid spirit. I don't know how, but I can still recall their markings, markings so similar to those on the bodies of some of our relatives' bodies. The mark of a talon with a drop of something on one of their bodies, I was still cowering when your mother found me. I tried so hard to forget, but I know, there's more to our family then what we know, Kim. Something also happened to Dustin that summer too, something that had to do with those werewolves." Her aunt takes a breathe and says, "I think there's a strong possibility that you might go through what Dustin went through, something that I think is a well kept family secret, Kim, so well kept that it often proves fatal to those that discover it."

Her head was spinning as she attempts to deny all of this as fantasy, but a deep part of her knows that this could very well alter her destiny. "If what you're saying is true, aunty, then they're going to put me through whatever they put Dustin through when my time comes. We can't do anything about it, besides, why do you think it's something that bad?" She asks and her aunt looks sadly at her. "Dustin was a bit of a hot head, but he often apologies afterwards. He might not have been the kindness boy but he did try to make up for his behaviour. Now he has so much hate in him, you can see a kind of madness and an intense hate just lurking under the surface. He scares me to the depths of my soul." Her great aunt says.

"Naruto, he's not like Dustin, he doesn't have that type of hate; that type of madness installed in him. If what you say is true and this fox spirit defended not just him, but you as well, I want you to follow his path, Kim, not our family's path in this matter. In him, I see an opinion that was denied you Dustin, a way to create your own path in that other world that we don't know of. I don't want to lose you, Kim." Her aunt says and she shifts uncomfortably at the raw emotion that's evident in her aunt's voice. "I don't think this… change will occur this summer. If this is true, then they'll want to keep an eye on me, which means they'll know about this change before I'm aware of this change going to overcome me. I'm only here for the summer!" She says, her aunt smiles mysteriously as she says, "I got a phone call concerning you, I think they just might seeing how fidgety they were when it came to the subject of you acting in a different fashion. I think they might put the correct kind of pressure on your mother for us."

She blinks but doesn't press it, not sure if she wants to know. She heads off to her room to put her new things away before they head off to get groceries, her mind a whirl as to what's been happening in the last few hours. In the end, she can safely say, things weren't ever going to be too boring from now on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4

They stared off, he, a large fox with nine-tails and the other, a blond werewolf who was a ninja in training. **"**I can't believe the old man kept this from me!**"** The blond shouts, he sighs at the volume of the pup's voice. (As if you can handle it back then! Even now, you're overwhelmed by this fact.) He snaps at the blond.

Naruto shifts uncomfortably, which meant that the blond admitted that he's right. (Look at it this way, pup. You got a new chance to life a new kind of life without everyone aware of me being living within you, let alone of what you are. I'll admit that the spirits and others like you will know after investigating you a bit, but the majority of humans don't have a clue as to what's going on in the world, so it's doubtful that you'll have to worry about that unless you reveal yourself to them. Something you won't be doing any time soon, I think.) He informs the young Ithaeur Uratha, Ithaeur is the title of the role Naruto has in the Forsaken society since the blonde transformed under the light of a crescent moon.

Naruto sighs as the blond looks away. **"**It's just that, damn it, what other kinds of secrets aren't they keeping from me? I have a right to know if they involved me in some way! I mean, how can I live my life if people I thought I trusted were more then willing to lie to me just because they think I'm not ready to hear this kind of stuff! How could I ever be ready if they don't trust ME?**"** Naruto rants, punching the floor in anger. He blinks in surprise, not expecting Naruto to see it that way.

'_He's grown, become more mature.'_ He thinks to himself as he nods slowly in agreement with Naruto's reasoning. (True, but you have to admit that right now, it's not high on your list of priorities seeing as you're got a territory to set up and defend.) He says simply. The blond Uratha glares at him and asks, **"**If you haven't noticed, you need a pack to set up a territory and I'm the only full Uratha around at this point. Sure Kim has the potential to transform, but lets face it, that only makes two Uratha in this pack and one of them hasn't even experienced their first transformation.**"**

He shrugs as he says, (Details, details. But I'm sure that another potential Uratha around, this was Pure territory until I killed the pack. I'll even have my children search around this city to confirm it. What we need to do right now is try and summon a Lune of the Crescent moon choirs find learn what kind of gifts are granted to you.) **"**I'm surprised you want to turn to the Moon tribes then to these Pure tribes.**"** Naruto says, he snorts as he answers the blond, (The Pure are lunatics, they're causal discard of Harmony isn't something I want you falling into. I rather be dealing with a reluctant and distrustful Uratha then a thing of blinded by hate and rage willing to do anything to reach their goal.) He gives the blond a piecing look and the blond looks away.

Seeing that Naruto wasn't going to say anything, he uses some of his essence to summon Nido. His son appears and then growls at Naruto, the blond glares into his eldest son's eyes, clearly daring the fox to try something. (Enough, Nido, Naruto's needs to get in contact with a Lune from the Crescent Moon choirs to be granted knowledge of his gifts.) He says to his son, Nido snaps his head to him, disbelief evident in his eyes. (You want me to help this Urdaga wan-a-be?) Nido asks him.

(I do, whelp. Met my living lair, Naruto Uzumaki formally of Hidden Leaf.) He informs his son. His son just stares in open astonishment; clearly Nido hadn't expected him to say that. He sighs and demonstrates what he means. Once he exits out of the boy's belly, his son lies down in attempt to recover from this series of revelations.

(It's not possible! Uratha's are too strong to be manipulated like that!) His son whines out loud. (I shall explain how it is possible and how it came about.) He informs his son, glancing at Naruto who leans forward to listen to the story as well. He sits down and takes time to sort out his thoughts. Once he's confident he's collected himself, he begins his tale.

/?/Naruto

Kyuubi finishes his tale; he's impressed about what kind of things the Kyuubi's been through, even if he was kind of sick to the stomach at the kind of acts the fox with nine-tails committed on humans and other beings in general. Kyuubi's son, the black fox that seems to have a pair of horns jetting out of his forehead seems highly interested in the story and from the thoughtful looks that sometimes crosses the fox's face, Nido was highly impressed by the deeds his father committed.

Nido sighs after a few minutes before informing them, (I doubt that even if we do successfully summon one of the Crescent Moon Choirs since Lune, they won't tell us anything since their generally known for being flaky and temperamental. We'd have a better chance of talking an Urdaga of the same phase to come and teach him then getting their cooperation. It would also give him a chance at gaining entry into one of their tribes too, right now, he's considered a Ghost wolf and that group doesn't have anything special to teach their members.)

He perks at that, he glances over at the larger fox to see Kyuubi's reaction. Kyuubi looks thoughtful and then after a few minutes the great fox asks, (Which Urdaga Uratha is closest to this territory?) (I'm not sure; I'll have to ask around among the family.) Nido admits, the nine-tailed fox nods and Nido bows slightly to Kyuubi before the smaller fox with horns vanishes, leaving him alone with his tenant.

(Well now, I guess we better focus on locate a loci and securing it.) The fox says and he sighs, he's not going to get any rest tonight, just he just knows it. (You'll have a better time locating one as an Urhan then as a Hisau. I also think you might want to work on transforming into your last two forms as well. You'll most likely need them.) Kyuubi says and he just sighs, from what he heard about this Gauru form, it's mostly used in battle and that you're more likely to enter into a Kuruth, a Death Rage.

"I'm going, I'm going.**"** He says before he heads out of his room. His body transforming into an Urhan, which was the wolf form, he's familiar with. He trots out of the front door and heads to the local park, planning on starting from their and searching outwards. He just hopes that those spirits guarding a loci weren't that powerful.

o!o

It's almost dawn when he hit upon and odd scent, one he opted to follow just to find out what it was since he knows that Kyuubi's busy making plans about his future. He doesn't resent Kyuubi for including him in his plans, mostly since the fox seems to have him at the core of those plans, making him an asset, ensuring that he's in good condition for him to do his part in said plans.

He sniffs spots ever so often to see what kind of spirits that might hang out around the upcoming area. He finds odd signs of fear and rage spirits here and there, but nothing currently fresh. Which made him wonder just how many spirits showed up early to kill him…

He shakes himself and continues following the odd scent. He picks up his pace as he feels a buzz wash over him. Soon he's in a flat run; the buildings were just blurs as he races towards the source that's washing over the local area. The scent of grass, fresh flowers, and fruits hit him as he enters into a ruined building that also has old scents of decay, pollution, and of rot.

He pauses and begins to slowly investigate the porch first before entering into the house. From there, he investigates each room since he doesn't really know what he's looking for. Slowly he makes his way up the stairs, to search around up there. It's not until he makes it to the roof, where he learns it's later in the morning does if find what he believes is a loci.

He frowns as he studies the filth that those previous owners must have used to make the right kind of energy to feed off of. He takes to his Dalu form and begins to clear off the filth, hoping to find the touchstone of the loci. He blinks as he picks up a gardening tool, he glances on the ground to make sure nothing else that could be confused for the loci he sensed.

He shifts into his Hisau form; he then finds a way off the roof. He got what he came for, he hopes, and begins to head back to his lair. He hopes that he makes it back in time so he can be on time for his lessons. He might be tempted to try roof hoping except that would only draw unwanted attention from local humans, spirits, ghosts, and something else he doesn't know exists.

/?/Kim

She sighs in relief when Naruto finally arrived, she had thought that the blond would have been driven off or something because of yesterdays events. "Hey Naruto." She says with a bit of a smile, Naruto smiles tiredly at her and nods his greeting. "Stayed up all night?" She asks and Naruto rubs the back of his neck, his bangs attempting to cover his blue eyes. "Kind of. Needed to find something last night." Naruto admits, butchering his English more then usual.

She nods, though she's curious as to what he needed to find, but decides not to push it. They headed into the back, she yells to her great aunt that Naruto's here. Soon enough, her great aunt comes down stairs and nods a greeting at the tired looking Naruto before heading to the front.

Soon enough, they're working on their respective projects; Naruto was trying to write sentences in English while she listens to her tapes for speaking Japanese. She repeats the words softly, occasionally Naruto would chuckle about something she said and she would sometimes glance over Naruto's shoulder to check what kind of words he's written, then it was her turn to chuckle at his expense. Slowly the tension between them fades to the back of their minds, allowing them to connect again without that tension being present.

Soon enough their two hours are up and Naruto heads to the front counter, leaving her with her great aunt. "So, did you talk with Great-Granddad? About letting me live with you for a while?" She asks her aunt and her aunt looks grim. "There was an accident, Kim. You're mother and Great-Grandfather have been killed recently, they didn't give me the details though. Supposedly, nobody knows what happened and their trying to keep it quiet for now. Matthew has taken over as head of our family." Her great aunt says softly, her hands clutch on hearing about Matthew's promotion.

"How's my brother taking the news?" She asks, her throat feels dry and her aunt says, "I don't think he's been told as of yet. The reunion that was set for this coming August has been called off. Something's happening, something worrying, I think. I'll wait a while be for I start asking question, Kim." She nods, she knows it's not really accepted among the family to ask question, sometimes if someone gets too pushy they have a tendency to vanish.

Her movements were wooden, her being in turmoil about the news of her mother's death. Her mind wasn't on sorting through the many boxes that never seem to end, but on her last encounter with her mom and Great-Grandfather. There wasn't any doubt in her mind that their deaths were connected with the secret dealings certain members of her family were involved in. She can only hope it was quick for their sakes, that they didn't feel too much pain in passing.

/?/Naruto

The last of the leaves had turned colour, he's heard of winter but he's never experienced it since Hidden Leaf was in Fire Country. True, some parts of Fire Country endured colder weather and those parts do even sometimes get snow as well. He sighs as he glances to where Kim was standing, looking into a window of a clothing store.

While Kim hasn't really brought up the attack that happened back in July, he could only guess as to her reasons for not trying to pump him for information, he knew he would if he were in her shoes. He glances across the street and the gang bangers flinch when they notice him looking their way. They picked up their pace, not wanting to remain visual.

Much like he figured, gang after gang had attempted to beat him up, some were driven by a few spirits like rage and hate while the rest were just there to one up the competition. In the end, all of their attempts failed, he killed the spirits driving some, going so far as to consume their essence slowly, to saviour the taste of his victory and robbed the would be muggers and stole whatever possession took his fancy from his defeated foes. In time the gang bangers opted for a policy of never sticking around where he's at just encase he's vengeful and wants to turn the tables on them.

In his life as an Uratha, he finally met a few Lune and was on the receiving end of three renowns, one in Wisdom and two in Cunning, he's also picked out his first three beginning gifts. A slight run in with a busy member of the Iron Masters saw him indicated into that tribe. He got internet ids and sites where to reach his fellow tribe-men. From some of Kyuubi's children, he's learnt at a few rites, not many just under ten, though they're all basically common place, he can do them fairly well.

Through Kyuubi, most of the fox spirits had been making their homes in his territory. With these spirits helping out by alerting him to presences of unwanted types of spirits, trailing after the local wolf-bloods in hopes of spotting a nuzusul, and good sources of information as to what's happening beyond this stretch of land he's taken as his own. For example, it seems that Kim's Uratha side of the family had a bad run in with a Shadow Lord and were attempt to please the spirit in order to keep it from attacking their bloodline, Uratha or wolf-blooded. It was also from those foxes did he learn about what happened to Kim's mother and Great-Grandfather.

There were times if he shouldn't confide in Kim about what's happening in her family, for he highly doubts any Uratha were telling his wolf-blooded family members about what's what. He could only guess what Kim's going through and how she'd reacted to knowing why her parent was killed along with her Great-Grandfather. He's aware that Kim's going to be starting school soon; therefore they won't be spending so much time together.

Kim turns away, glancing at him with a slight frown creasing her face. Kim sighs and tries to shrug it off. He studies her with interest, he notices how she rugged she looks, her stance, even how uncertain she smells. "Kim?" He says softly, she jerks slightly as she looks up at him. "Want to talk about it?" He asks softly. Kim looks away and he shifts slightly, he moves close, but not too close since he doesn't want to invade her personal space.

"I know your mom was killed, Kim. Those members of your family that are like me, they offended a big time spirit and they're trying to please it to stop it from killing off their family. That's why members of your family have been dying, Kim. You can't do anything about it since you're not yet strong to do anything about it." He says softly. Kim jerks slightly; the look of surprise on her face told him that she hadn't expected him to talk about this. "So you know how corny that sounds?" Kim says and he sighs.

"Isn't that what's on your mind, Kim?" He asks, he's confused about how she's taking this. "Is this spirit like that nine-tailed fox spirit that's in you?" Kim asks. "Kind of, only it reigns in the spirit world and has a lot more resources then those family members like me have. The tribe that your family typically joins are called Ivory Claws. It's a brutal tribe, just a member of an alliance of three tribes often called the Pure." He says to her, Kim looks at him, a slight war was raging within her, on one side, she wants to know more but on the other hand, knowing more would only put her in more danger.

"What tribe are you part of?" She asks and he glances around before he answers. "I'm a member of the Iron Masters." He admits and Kim sighs. "Why are you willing to tell me about this? I mean, won't telling me put me in danger?" Kim says. "You're already in danger, Kim. Unless the Ivory Claws of you family can appease this spirit lord, none of their blood relatives are safe. They might just target you since you're what we call a nuzusul, a werewolf that has yet to undergo their first transformation. Killing you is a double blow, Kim. It not only deprives them of blood stock but also of a new Ivory Claw. If you want me to stop, then I won't bring it up until you're willing to talk about it." He says to her and Kim searches his face for something before Kim nods slowly.

"I think you need a hair cut." Kim declares after they've been walking a while. He chuckles at the randomness of that statement. "Then lead and I shall follow." He says to her, motioning her to take the lead. Kim gives him a warm smile, her stance has relaxed a lot and she seems more alive then what she was for the last few weeks. He knew he was looking at either a future pack-mate or even a future tribe-mate whenever he looks at her.

Because of how he sees her, it doesn't stir those domineering instincts quite as much as other humans do. He'll never be able to throw off those instincts so he has to find ways of dealing with him. While he hungers for company of Urathas, being in Kim's presence lessens that considerably. Maybe it was just the knowledge that Kim will one day race through Hisil with him, hunting down spirits in those shadow lands and her adding her voice to his howl. In the end, it doesn't really matter since in the end, she'll be with him and no other pack will ever be able to call her theirs, that's what matters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5

Now that it's September, Kim's busy at school and since kids his age were suppose to be at school, he had to find some place else to be until school is out since that's the new hang out time. In the end, there was only one place left for him to go, into the Hisil, into the world of spirits. While he knows he's relatively safe staying around his territory that's echoed in the Hisil, he can't help but feel curious as to wait else lies within that shadow world.

While he's touched by Kyuubi's concerns of his safety, he can't help but feel a tad rebellious about the restrictions that were on him in order to keep him coming to harm. He waits for his chance to slip by his watcher and explore Hisil on his own. So he observed his watchers in order to see which one would be 'easy' to get a way from. In time, he decided that Nido's daughter Nicu would do since she's pretty lazy, give her some grape juice and she lies on her back, waving her paws in front of her head so totally fascinated about the 'colours' that trail behind her waving paws.

While he doesn't really understand this pheromone, he even drank a whole litre of grape juice in the Hisil and nothing happened. He even gave some to a bunch of other fox spirits and even a few of the friendlier spirits and they didn't suffer whatever it was that Nicu was suffering from. He knows it's not a ban either, he asked around about such types of ban and the possibility that they exist.

He glances around the parkland that shadows the park with the pool that's close to his place. The nature locus he recovered weeks ago had been put to good use as far as the plant and animal spirits were concerned since the gardening tool was used to improve the local park. People's attitudes while in the park had underwent a few minor adjustments; mostly it almost stopped being a place where muggers like to hang out at, which made it a safer place to visit at night.

He watches a dragonfly spirit dance over the pool area while bird spirits sing from their perches on tree spirits. He could feel eyes on him as he walks through this part of the Hisil. Even though they have made pacts, none of the spirits were incline to trust him, not yet at any rate since it takes years to become friendly with practically all of the spirits that he's made pacts with. Uratha of the Moon tribes were still in many cases, their hated oppressors since they've taken to 'governing' the Hisil.

He glances to Nicu was walking, the striped fox spirit looks about with a great deal of pride, but then, seeing as Kyuubi was to be his pack's totem spirit, when he finds others looking to join up with him, most fox spirits contribute his achievements to Kyuubi. To the many fox spirits, all that he was is Kyuubi's fleshy den, and he should be grateful at the title. He had just rolled his eyes; he does plan on proving himself to the merriment of spirits that were taking to living within his territory.

The canister around his neck will help him do just that, for in it wasn't just grape juice, it was something he managed create on his own for he had added a bit of Essence to the liquid. Since the grape juice on its own managed to affect Nicu for about fifteen minutes, he believes that with the bit of Essence he infused, it should work for at least a few hours. Though he was slightly worried that it might poison Nicu, it was a chance he's willing to take in order to explore beyond his territory, without anyone there stop him from doing so.

He lowers his upper body, allowing the container too fall to the ground. (So this is the eastern edge, huh? Pretty freaky out there.) He says in the First tongue, he's currently in his Urshul body. (Most of that is Pure territory.) Nicu says, sending a warning glance his way. He shrugs and he shifts his body into that of his Dalu body. He opens up the canister and on smelling the scent of grape juice; Nicu perks up and takes a few steps towards him. She then gives him the patented puppy dog eyes, he sighs, he puts the container down before her after waiting a few minutes.

He shifts back to his Urshul body as Nicu begins to drink from the open container. Nicu's tail wags behind her happily; he can hear Nicu practically gulp the mixture down. He looks around, making sure that no spirits were around before making his way to the edge of his territorial boundaries.

He doesn't have any plans about what he'll do if he runs into the Pure, but he's always been good at thinking on his feet. He stays alert as he pushes out of the known lands of Hisil into unknown and most likely hostile lands of the Pure. He's not like other Uratha and by the time he's done here, everyone will know that and he'll gather a different kind of respect and fear as well.

o!o

He studies locus that smelt of burnt flesh and of decay. From what he gathered by tormenting a spirit in the local pack's service and then consuming it in order to fill up on Essence, he learnt this locus's location as well as how many were in this pack, it's totem, and what kind of fetishes they have. He's highly interested in a obtaining a Chargebreaker, a Betrayer Skull, and, most important in his mind, a Moonshunner.

He glances around; he had thought that there would be more spirits living in a Pure's territory considering how many spirits were just waiting to live in his territory. _'Must be because of Kyuubi lives there, they're trying to kiss up to his be hind.'_ He muses to himself before standing up and heading towards the locus in order to gain entrance into physical world.

He found himself in a basement filled with gruesome looking paintings, weapons, and… is that a captive? He narrows his eyes; his nostril's flaring slightly in order to get a better idea of who the prisoner is. He realises that why, it was a prisoner and he slowly advances towards the person.

He notices that the prisoner lacks the Uratha scent, making him human. The man jerks and glances at him with wide eyes. He takes on his Dalu body and says in English, "Where are they? Do you know where they went? When they'll be back?" The man shakes his head, he studies the man, the scent of Essence reaches him, though it's weak. "Mage then?" He asks and the man nods.

"I help you out of that and you agree not to attack me?" He asks and the man seems to think this over, but sighs and nods. It doesn't take much for him to break the chains; the man rubs his wrists and gets up, heading directly towards something hanging like a trophy on the wall. He shrugs and shifts his form once more to scout around.

In time, he does locate some interesting things, even written records of the pack's battles and lore. He skims through them, nodding as they come to the part about capturing the mage he just freed. He turns away, glad that he did something that will keep the pack from trying to track him down now that the mage was free and likely to cause the Avenging Arrows a great deal of trouble.

He sighs and transforms into his Dalu form. He picks up a stick and uses some flint and iron to spark a flame. Once the end of the stick is on fire, he begins torching the room that's full of things to use in rites and in making Fetishes. The paper books burning more quickly then those sheets of leather, but in the end, the pack not only lost their history, but also any records of their credit history, bank statements, and of course, valuable items used in rituals.

He continues to put the house to flame, he watches as the mage kind of glares at him for what he's doing, but the man hurries out of the house before the pack's alerted to what's going on. He tosses the torch onto a wooden cabinet before he shifts into his Urshul form. He escapes by entering into the locus.

He does encounter two members of the Avenging Arrow's pack, but as he races pass, they're torn between chasing him down and checking to see what's up with their base. They enter into the locus before it's destroyed by the fire. The two Uratha belonging to the Pure tribes most likely will meet their deaths, trapped in the basement that has no windows and they don't have loci to enter into the Hisil to escape from the flames either.

He doesn't let that get to him though, not when he's being chased by one of the Avenging Arrow servants. He didn't want to turn to fight it, not on the local pack's territory at any rate. He ran fast, but not at his top speed since he can't afford to let this spirit lose interest in him and return to the pack to tell them about him.

(What's with you, any ways? So I torched the place, I'm sure those of the Fire-Touched will feel much more at home from what I did.) He taunts between breaths. (Filthy Uratha midget! I was responsible for watching that locus you help destroy by setting that fire!) The furious ferret spirit spats out. (I'm not a midget, weasel! It's the result of malnourishment!) He growls in response.

He evades a swipe from the rabid ferret spirit. (Besides, doesn't guarding mean being there and not go gallivanting around like what you did? Honestly, if you did your job properly, I won't have gotten away with torching the place. Therefore, I'm absolved of blame and guilt since it was through your own disinterest and in-ability to follow simple directions that let me not only did I walk into the locus, but to walk out of it.) He says in a reasonable tone. The ferret was totally unable to take responsibility for his actions and once more lashes out at, in his mind at least, the innocent in this whole venture, namely himself.

Once they're a good few miles from the Avenging Arrow's boundary markers, he turns and viciously attacks said irresponsible ferret. The ferret backs up, allowing him to transform into his Gauru from. He does notice that Nido and Nicu had just arrived, but he doesn't pay that any heed as he and the ferret spirit begin to pummel each other.

After digging his fangs into the ferret's throat, the so-called locus guardian screams for help. He tears a chuck of the neck as he pulls away from the ferret. He spats out what's in his mouth and he says, (Hey, dumb ass! They can't hear you since you were stupid enough to follow me beyond their boundaries! You did want I hoped you do and now they'll never know that I was involved in torching their place! I am Naruto Uzumaki, formally of Hidden Leaf from Fire Country! Remember that name when you met with the Kami of Death, dip-shit!) He roars before gathering Essence into his fists and charging at the frighten relative of the weasel.

The Essence filled fists went through the ferret's fur, skin, and lastly, flesh like a hot knife through butter. He tosses his head back and howls out his victory. Once that's done, he shifts into his Urshul body and glances at Nido and his daughter. (Let's go.) He says and the two fox spirits do just that, he walks proudly back into his boundary markers. He just knows that this event will spread like wild fire throughout his territory that the spirits won't ever think of contributing that victory to Kyuubi in any shape or form.

In more then one ways, he knew that he had set something in motion. He doesn't know what per sae, but he knows that it'll always be there. Lurking in the future, to aid him or to damn him, but he'll live with it since he had a hand in setting it on its way.

/?/Kyuubi

He's both shocked by what Naruto claim he done and furious at the fact that Naruto put himself in jeopardy just to make his children and local spirits realise he's a power in his own right and they should never forget it. So as Naruto stares into his eyes without looking away, he began to chuckle which in turn turned into full blown laughter. Naruto and Nido glance at each other in confusion as he continues to laugh.

(I don't see what there to laugh about.) Nido says. (There's plenty to laugh about! Not only did this rookie enter into enemy domain, whelp! But he managed to leave someone to take the blame for the fire he caused and took out an intermediate spirit that could become a totem to some Pure pack in a few years! The pup's got the guts of a wolf, the cunning of a coyote, and the luck of a fox! He just fought the enemy at their own game, they now have a huge set back and we gain more time before one of the local packs begin to investigate why none of previous tenants are trying to make contact with the other packs! The other packs will be looking at securing their territories even more before they begin to look beyond their land claims. While reckless, the pup did something that'll be puzzling the locals for a good long while, especially since some of them were beginning to wonder why a lot of fox spirits were setting themselves up in this city.) He say, Nido shifts uncomfortably, understanding what he's talking about.

Soon enough, Nido left, leaving Naruto and him alone. **"**So, what's your real opinion about what I did?**"** Naruto asks him. He sighs and answers, (You wanted them to stop seeing you as an object. You wanted them to see you, to acknowledge that you have power in your own right and that they should never forget that.) _'You're been longing to do something similar back in Leaf too, pup. This time though, they won't make that kind of mistake again. You are an Uratha and they should have known that you're deadly even if you're just twelve years old.'_ He tells himself mentally.

Naruto nods and looks at the clock. He takes his time to note the physical changes happening with his ex-container. He found it odd that now that he knows why the blond stirred thoughts of Luna and Urfarah, he managed to begin to view the boy with affection, the type of affection he often feels towards one of his favourite children. He knows that Naruto's made of sterner stuff then those of the young blonde's ex-village, so it stands to reason that the pup's made of tougher stuff then he was before.

There's no doubt in his mind that when the pack does come into being, Naruto will be the Alpha of that pack. From what he's learnt, Naruto adjusted to life as an Uratha better there most Uratha, but then, Naruto never was given a chance to resist such life changing situations, especially if it's forced on him by third parties. He sighs, he feels so old all of a sudden, but then again, he was old, so old that he lived in the time of Pangaea though he never did see it decline, which might have been for the best, since it saved him from losing an ounce of power he welded then and still welds now.

(Isn't it about time that you get something to eat?) He asks once he hears Naruto's stomach growls. The blond reddens slightly and places a hand over his belly. **"**Yea, I guess it is. Though I think I should tell you about something, Nicu seems to get high off of drinking grape juice for some reason. That's how I managed to slip by her.**"** Naruto tells him, he snorts until he realises that Naruto's telling him the truth. (Really?) He asks and the blond just nods. He blinks owlishly; he's kind of surprised that one of his grandchildren inherited Ryugra's fondness for grapes, one of his previous mates and mother to a few litters of his get. (Huh, I never expected something of Ryugra to ever show up in my family.) He muses out loud.

Naruto gives him a parting glance before the blond heads out of the building to hang out with Nancy and Kim at that book shop. He settles down in the room, his mind replaying old and fond memories of times spent with his mates. He misses the challenge of raising kits, he sighs a heartfelt sigh as he curls up into a ball of fluffy red fur, allowing his mind to wonder down memory lane.

/?/Naurto

He cocks his head to the side as he stares at the picture of a skeleton in a store window. He glances to where Kim and Nancy were chatting with a group of women and their daughters. He notices a behaviour that he's seen before, back when he was that the ninja academe, it was always directed at Sasuke though.

The few girls noticing him glancing their way, they quickly turn away and whisper among themselves, from the way Kim would redden he can only guess it's variations of what he's heard when Sasuke was the subject of the girl's crush. Only, it seems that the group was teasing Kim in a way he's never seen Sasuke's fan club did. But then, no girl was considered Sasuke's friend, actually now that he thought about it, Sasuke never made friends with anyone.

'_I wonder if he had some kind of mental disorder. I mean, humans are social beings, like wolves, deer, apes, and, heck, like Uratha too. I wonder what could fuck up Sasuke so much to make him a premature moody teen. Or is it a jaded youth with a stunted emotional growth?'_ He muse to himself as he looks away from the girls, looking at more evidence that something was happening and that it involved using images of death, cats, and some really ugly looking humans…

He decides to ask Kim about the decorations, figuring that Kim won't at least question him too deeply about how he couldn't know about this holiday or whatever it was. _'Maybe it's a festival?'_ He wonders to himself as he waits for the wolf-blooded women to finish socializing among themselves.


	6. Chapter 6

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6

Now he can't help but wonder what was it about this holiday that drove people to give out free candy to kids, let alone about the part saying of the song that reads, 'Smell my feet, give me something good to eat.' He glances down at his own costume, which to him was highly ironic seeing as Kim had him dressed up as a ninja while she's dressed up as a samurai, he made sure she had the two swords that are characteristic of the rank and career.

While Kim had tried to tell him that it's just a costume and that nobody cared about accuracy of what they were dressing up as. He let her rant about it and then, once more, insisted that she wore two swords or he'll change out of his outfit. He refused to let them both go about in public in, his views at least, inaccurate customs. In the end, Kim complied if only for them to head off to the party Kim was invited to.

Kim was currently deciding not to talk with him in hopes of forcing him to apologise for something he doesn't completely understand as of yet. He would be trying to make conversation; only, he found he doesn't feel at all comfortable around so many people. Once upon a time, he'd just chat endlessly about anything that crossed his mind when he's unnerved but it's not like that for him now.

If he's chatting on endlessly about something, then he might miss something, and if he misses that something then they might be in trouble as that something could be highly dangerous if he's not able to stop it in time. So he remained silent as they walk down the street, he didn't want too many people in his personal space so opted to walk closer to the street so he doesn't have to brush pass people as he makes his way through the crowd. Since Kim's steaming about something, people have her enough space they could as they walk by children with parents, preteens, and teens.

They make it to the correct house, to his mixed relief and nervousness. Kim seems to be highly relieved about this; most likely the fact she's not allowing herself to talk to him put her in an uneasy position where she really does want to chat with him but also wants that apology as well. He could only hope that once inside, Kim will forget about him having to apologise, well he could only hope seeing that from what he recalls of girls, they can have long memories about the weirdest things…

The door opens to reveal some guy dressed up as a pirate with an eye patch on the left eye and a fake sword in the design that's common for pirate costumes. "Oh, hey Kim! Who's your bro?" The preteen asks. "This is Naruto, Naruto this is Riley." Kim introduces, he nods at the guy and soon enough Riley's motioning for them to enter.

The load music pulses throughout the living room once they enter into the house. He studies the people chatting away by the kitchen door. The parents were presence and it's clear they disapprove of the loud music but seem to be reluctant to do anything about it as well. That's kind of confusing to him, since he thought parents often let their opinions be known about what they'll accept and what they won't.

It takes a few minutes before he realises that Kim's left him to join a gang of girls. He stiffens as a hand is placed on his shoulder, he glances at the offending hand and with a quick sniff, finds it's only Riley. He relaxes a few hairs and glances at Riley, the guy was grinning at him. "Lost her to the gabbling geese already, huh? Come on, I'll introduce you to the guys." Riley says and the dressed up pirate takes the hand off of his shoulder, allowing him to relax even more as Riley heads over to where a group of three were chatting about a movie about some wizard called Harry Potter.

"Guys, met Naruto, he showed up with Kim Russell. Naruto met Kevin, Mike, and Shawn." Riley says, each of the preteens nod at hearing their name. Kevin's the one dressed up as a devil, Mike's the one dressed up as a vampire, and Shawn was dressed up as a soldier. "Ninja, right?" Shawn says, looking at him. He blinks before he remembers what he's dressed up as. "Yea." He says and Shawn nods off to where Kim's chatting with those girls. "So, you're good friends with Kim, then? So, you like her or _like_ her?" Shawn asks him, he stares at Shawn as he doesn't get what the human was talking about. "Huh?" He asks, hoping that someone will explain what that means.

"You know, are you just a friend or are you more then just friends?" Mike asks. "We're just friends." He says, finally getting what they're talking about. "So, she's like, free game?" Kevin asks, he snorts at part implying that Kim's something like a rabbit or a deer. "As far as I know, she's not seeing anyone." He says, hoping that his use of the word 'seeing' was correct.

From their reactions, he did say the right thing. He glances around once more, listening with half an ear to what the four guys were talking about girls, the subjects were on who's dating who, who's not, and other mini subjects under that title. He watches as the refreshment table is loaded up with some more cans since there had been only four cans sitting on the table. He looks away from the goodies that were on the table, none of it was highly appetizing to him since he became an Uratha. Even Ramen wasn't that appetizing now, fresh meat that's bleeding was what made his mouth water now a days, though he doesn't mind some fresh fruit and nuts some times.

About an hour passed before he headed outside, more people had been arriving and he's uneasy grew. He felt caged within the house and so he mentioned getting some fresh air to Riley and them, headed outside. He sat on the far end of the front porch, sitting on the railing, observing the activity going on with the trick-or-treaters and those parents patrolling around, making him wonder what the previous owners of this stretch of the city did during Halloween to cause such uneasy.

He felt like an intruder here, as if he's very presence was offending them in some way. He didn't particularly like that feeling, but, it's one he's felt before, back in Hidden Leaf. At that moment he just wanted to run, to feel the wind dance in his fur, the feel of his muscles as they tense and release, to hear the wind whistle in his ears as he races through this world. He looks up at the moon; he would love to just sing his heart out in the Crescent moon's silvery light.

"You ok?" He jumps slightly on hearing Kim's voice. She looks amused at his reaction and he smiles at her. "I just couldn't stay in there, too many people, you know?" He says to her as she settles on the railing to his right. "A bit, but I guess it's different for you, huh? I wonder if I'll be that jumpy after…" Kim trails off, he nods his head. "You will, it's like your whole view of the world not only underwent a drastic change, you find you can't seem to connect with them… I mean in the way you know you should. It's like you're watching aliens go about their routines and that you're only lonelier just by being around them…" He says, staring off into the distance.

"But you don't feel like that with aunty and me, right?" Kim asks, he turns to look at her. "Not as much, you guys might not realise it, but you do smell different from them, just enough for me to take comfort in but still, you're not what I am and therefore, can't what the things a full blood could do. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to talk here, where we could be overheard." He says, glancing to the door as it opens.

Kim blushes slightly and nods as some of the party goers exited out, saying their good byes. They get off the railing and Kim enters into the house to say bye for the both of them, he watches as a few more guests begin to come up the walk way. Soon Kim comes out and they head off, just wandering in whatever direction takes their fancy. In the end, they headed to the park.

He sees a few spirits as they pass, but Kim's unaware of them, most likely not seeing them since they're not Materialized fully in this realm. The spirits glance between Kim and himself before going back into the Hisil, which suited him just fine. He watches as Kim look peaceful, he doubts she'd believe him if he told her that it's a by product of him nurturing a nature aligned locus.

"So, how do you like your cell phone?" Kim asks once they sit down by the fountain. "It's ok, the picture function is kind of an oddity." He admits, Kim just chuckles. "And I wanted to buy you the one with the video recorder and acts like an MP3." Kim says, he snorts. "It's not like I'd be incline to use it, I mean, I don't have a computer to get songs onto the phone or to deposit the vids." He says, Kim clicked her tongue at him. "You could always use my computer." The brunet challenges him; he just gives her an amused look before lying on the bench, looking up at the stars.

"So, how's school?" He asks after a few minutes of uneasy silence between them. "Its better then what my old school was like. Sure it's public school but I don't have to worry about trying to keep up with the crowd in what they do, how they act, what they say…" Kim says, he cocks his head at the bitterness in Kim's voice.

"What was your school like before you came here?" Kim asks, he winces slightly as the image of a highly disapproving Iruka pops into his mind. "It focused on physical health, hand eye coordination, survival skills, and then your basics, like history and math." He says as he glances off to the side, into the bark of a tree.

"I'm guessing you weren't very popular." Kim hazards a guess. "This kid was halted a genius, you know? Girls wanted him, some of the guys wanted to be him, and others were envious of what he had. I fell in the third group. I was always willing to challenge him, to taunt him, to pick a fight with him to knock him down a few pegs. Of course the girls were quicker to beat me up then allow such activities to occur. Those girls were just plain viscous." He admits, shuddering slightly about the beatings he's received from them; out rage over all of those beats over laps his fear for a few seconds before he regains control over himself.

He looks up to find Kim giving him a wary look, he looks down and finds his clutching fist to be hairy. He takes a few calming breaths and the hand returns to normal. "So, does this guy have a name?" Kim asks him after a few seconds of his fist returning to normal. "Sasuke Uchiha." He spats the name out with a minor snarl in his underlining tone. He winces slightly at the venom he heard in his own voice. "Damn, I'm glad I'm not that guy, I get the feeling that if you even get a chance, he'd be a pile of guts, muscle, blood, and cracked bones." Kim says jokingly, he gives her a weak smile and a nod.

"Did you have any major crushes before you left?" Kim asks as she tosses a pebble towards the path. He sighs as he thinks about Sakura Haruno, while he now knows that it was only just a crush, that didn't stop him from aching about the way she had treated him. "Sakura Haruno, she was a bit of a book worm, always able to quote things from books, rules and even laws. She had bubble gum pink hair and intense green eyes. She was over conscious about her forehead though, seemed to think it was too wide or something." He tells Kim, she frowns slightly. "But?" Kim asks and he continues, "She was like co-head fan girl of the Uchiha's unofficial fan club. Ino, who used to be Sakura's best friend before they began pursuing the Uchiha."

Kim snorts softly and says, "Old story, I guess. Two best of friend develop crushes on the same boy, then goes their friendship, thus making them bitter rivals since they know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Giving up years of friendship just because they fancy the same boy…" Kim just shakes her head and he nods, getting what Kim's saying. "So, what drew you to her in the first place?" Kim asks casually. He blinks and studies Kim; he snorts softly but does think about it.

He came up with a whole lot of nothingness. "I can't remember…" He finally admits sheepishly, scratching the back of his head and chuckles nervously. Kim just stares at him, it seems that she hadn't expected that answer, but in the end, he hadn't either but it's what he came up with. "You mean, you just looked at her one day and thought she'd make a good girlfriend?" Kim states and he shifts nervously. "It might have been an act of kindness on her part, something that sparked my interest in her. I really can't come up with anything other then thinking that I wanted her." He admits.

Kim begins to giggle and then chuckle, then finally, laughing out right. "You… just… wanted… her!" Kim crows between her laughter. His checks burn red, feeling foolish about all the time he spent chasing after Sakura just because something about her drew him to her and he was determined to have her as his girlfriend. He doesn't say anything, just looks away.

"I had always been alone; could you blame me for wanting to have someone to care about me?**"** He mutters out loud, Kim gives him a questioning look, clearly not understanding what he said since he said it too rapidly for her to follow, even if her Japanese was improved since they started helping each other with one another native languages. "I'm guessing it's still sore subject, anything dealing with your home, huh?" Kim asks and he nods. "It's always going to be a sore subject, Kim. I can't do anything to change what happened and I'll just have to live with it." He tells her.

"There must have been people you miss, that you left behind?" Kim asks him. "Not many, just three or so people." He admits. Kim whistles slightly at that. "Ah." Kim says wisely, deciding to allow the subject to die off.

"So, how long have you been interested in me?" He asks, changing the subject and venturing into lands he doubts he'll survive. "Who says I like you?" Kim says, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "It's more about the questions you were asking that gave it away." He admits and Kim sighs. "Ok, maybe I'm interested in you, but I take it that it can never work out, huh?" Kim asks, he frowns slightly, clearly not sure how to answer that.

"I get the feeling that in the end, we'll be searching a very long time in search of that answer. So far, Uratha breeds with humans, for Uratha to breed together it doesn't result in more Uratha, but in something call a Ghost Child. From what I've heard about such children, they're uncontrollable monstrous beings that are totally feral." He says to Kim, she jerks back, but something dawns on her. "That's why… So Uratha can't survive as a species without…" Kim says, clearly dumbfounded about what he's saying. "Yea, freaky but in a way, it's most likely keeping Uratha from murdering hordes of humans, to curb their population. The Ivory Claws and their allies don't like humans; they'll tolerate wolf-blooded humans, if only because they have greater chance of having Uratha offspring from breeding with those kinds of humans." He says. "This explains my family's isolation and our tendency to breed with distant relatives." Kim says at last, he nods.

Kim looks off into the distance, it's clear that Kim's thinking about what she just learnt. He doesn't try and distract her, knowing that in the end, it's better to allow her to think about everything he had just said. He studies her wistfully; it's not that it hadn't crossed his mind about getting involved in a relationship with Kim; it's just that, they don't know when she'll change for she is a nuzusul and by then, it'll be too late.

He tells himself that in time, he'll find another woman that interests him enough for him to marry and have children with. Still, he wishes that there was a way to have that kind of choice when it comes to relationships.

/?/Blood Dancer

(Boy marked by Fox

Of Leaf born, Of Wolf bred

Seen Lord Death

Before day old.

Reborn under true True moon,

Fox Lord breaks free,

Blood of Uratha runs free!

Nine shall gather,

Nine shall join together

Challenge to restore

A way of old.

Mark him well,

Heed his actions,

Words and deeds.

In eight Demon,

The way shall open,

In Land of Waves,

Silver shadows shall creep,

Shall crawl,

In Essence all things are equal

Strike swift at the core,

Before mirror eyes take the root.

Three realms shall shake,

As Urfarah and Luna rejoin!)

He finishes reading the prophecy to his pack, a vision granted to them by Rabid Wolf, through the dead Seer Stalks-in-Green before she was taken by their totem. They were also aware that another Seer among the tribe of murders and fiends also received the same prophecy, they're Seer also died once they finished reciting those words as well, making a few doubt if it's true. But since the Seers were claimed by whatever sent that message, it's clear that there's something a foot that might lead to Pangaea being born once more.

He looks on, wondering what it all meant as he watches Stalks-in-Green's body is lit on fire, giving her a send off to top all send offs. They had a hard time moving Stalks-in-Green's body, it had taken months of questioning spirits in how to undo whatever it was that wouldn't allow them to move her, to give her a funeral. (It's fitting that she's sent to her rest on this even that's hallow. May she guide us from her new haunts; give us insight so we maybe bring the Dawn World back.) He hears Hurt's by Night say to Calling Storm. The greying Uratha nods in agreement, he shrugs, he never had been on the best terms with either Calling Storm or with Stalks-in-Green. They had always said there was another way to bring Pangaea back that doesn't involve killing the murdering Uratha.

He decides to reserve judgment for now on whether or not this prophecy was true or not. He shall take his time before deciding which course of action he'll take, let alone support. Currently, he's still thinking over what happened with the Avenging Arrow, how that captured mage managed to escape when it should be impossible for the unnatural Essence user to break out of his chains without his focal point…


	7. Chapter 7

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7

He studies the locus that's his third find since he arrived here, those this is the first one he's founded without any promptings from Kyuubi though. The feeling of fear and paranoia were attempting to eat at his mind. He hadn't thought that a simple hunt would lead him to a valuable commodity as a loci, but it had and he can only hazard a guess that it's a recently created locus as well, which meant that something was going on in this part of town and he most likely will have to kill his first human if only to keep another loci of fear, or even, rage from being created. He moves forward and picks up the crystal shard pendent on a length of leather hide.

He glances around the basement; he shifts into his Urhan form in order as to not draw any attention to those that live in the building above. He had at first thought that their paranoia was caused by that spirit of fear, since it's been a while since he saw an emotional spirit grow to that size since Kyuubi came out of his belly and killed off all of those attacking spirits that were attempting to kill him and Kim to a lesser extant.

He's just about to enter into his more common haunt when something catches his eye. He stops and studies the hidden figure; he sniffs the air as his ears scan the area. With a quick decision, he trots to where he last saw the shadowy figure. A quick sniff at around the general spot tells him that a nuzusul had been this way recently.

He's curious as to what a nuzusul was doing close to his boundary, but he also wants to get the pendent back to his lair. He's indecisive, if he goes after the nuzusul with the locus pulsing out those emotions, it'll only increase the nuzusul's alertness and flight instinct. On the other hand, if he does take it back to Kyuubi then he loses the nuzusul's trail and he then doesn't learn anything in connection with this nuzusul since for all he knows, this guy, the scent is that of a male, could be getting ready to under go his transformation and he really wants to have some kind of connect with the Uratha before they've undergone their first transformation.

He finds a grove by a wall; he puts the necklace there and a shift into his Gauru form, he pushes a dumpster to cover the spot. Once that's done, he goes back to his Urhan form and goes after the nuzusul's trail. He travels through this part of the city at a steady loop, not going too fast so he can keep checking around to make sure he's still following the right trail.

He also takes note of any abnormalities as he continues to follow the trail. Soon he finds the nuzusul he's been trailing; he pulls back and shifts into his Hishu form. He decides to invoke his Gift Know Name as he stares that the dark skinned teen with matted hair. The knowledge of the teen's name enters into his head; the teen's name is Lance Timber, no nickname and no deed name, which doesn't surprise him since Lance was a nuzusul.

He watches as Lance seems to be hiding from something. The door of the club opens and out walks a man wearing a trench coat, he stiffens slightly as he realises that this man was being influenced by a spirit. The Ridden turns, glancing towards where Lance was hiding, he notices the glowing six eyes peering out of the man's chest. He wonders what kind of spirit it was, but as a drunken young guy exits out of the club, grabbing the Ridden for support.

The Ridden's human host looks at the drunken teen in amusement. He bits back a growl as he watches as the Ridden chats with the teen; he knows that something was going to happen with that teen. It's a known fact that Ridden take possession of a human in order to create emotions in others so he can feed off of them. He wondered just how many spirits left their hosts in order to help in the attack against him…

He trails Lance who trails the Ridden who's walking with the drunken teen. The Ridden seems to realise that Lance was following him, but he knows that the Ridden hasn't spotted him nor has Lance. He's trailing in his Urhan form, knowing that Lance was the one who's more likely to spot him then the Ridden, seeing how Lance was the more nervous of the two and the more likely to be watching his back as much as watching the Ridden.

The Ridden guides the party to an alleyway with a lot of garbage in it. As the Ridden takes out a good size dagger, Lance attempts to tackle the spirit possessed man. The drunken teen's just dozing away and he shifts into his Urshul form, waiting for the prefect moment to strike. The moment came as the Ridden overpowered Lance, getting to be on top of Lance, the dagger's close to Lance's neck.

With a snarl, he tackles the Ridden away from Lance, he snarls, baring his teeth as he gives the Ridden a levelled look. Panic flashes on the Ridden's' face. (Leave that body now and I'll not pursue you when you leave, remain in that body and I'll rip that being's head off and then track you down and feed off of you while you're still alive!) He tells the Ridden, the spirit residing in the chest shimmers and the spirit bolts out of the body, leaving the body to collapse on itself.

He watches as the winged spirit flies off into the night sky, leaving him alone with Lance and the sleeping teen. Lance was currently fixated on him, terror and awe on the African American's face. He glances down to the drunken teen before staring into Lance's face for a few minutes. He heads off at a loop, leaving Lance to deal with the slumbering teen.

Once he's far enough away, he shifts back into his Urhan and heads to where he left the necklace. He makes a note to tell Kyuubi about Lance, knowing that the nuzusul was getting close to his first change since Lance has begun to notice spirit activity. While he doesn't know when Lance stated to notice it, it means that either this November or December, he's going to be having another Uratha around that'll hopefully, help him patrol around the large stretch of territory that he's claimed to without other packs to challenge him about.

True, the fox spirits help but they're not that worried about the things he's worried about. In the end, he finds that the fox spirits were only really good with information about what's going on beyond this city; he never could tell Kyuubi that his children and their children weren't doing a proper job of patrolling around the lands they've laid claimed to. There were times when he really wondered if Nido and the rest of them cared about what kind of spirits could lurk in the corners of this section of land. _'Or they just don't see the point in stopping them…'_ He thinks in disgust, considering what kind of lives spirits lead in the Hisil, they don't seem to care about what kind of echo their effects of their actions have on the spirit world around them.

He could see why Uratha are on such terrible relationships with those living in the Hisil. In a way, it seems as if they, the spirits are just short sighted spoiled children that only seek to please themselves in the here and now. Then if things go badly, they're glad to lay the blame on the humans and do some selective memory erasing where they're pleasures are what caused the humans to react in that way. He wonders what kind of things are growing in places within his boarders that have yet to let themselves be known.

/?/Kyuubi

He feels the tentacles wrap themselves around his neck, his many times Great-Granddaughter named Niki just stands by, impassively watching him struggle with this abominable shadowy creature attempts to consume him. He snarls an order to Niki, but she snorts and turns her back on him, enraging him, but since he can't take if out on the offending bitch, he turns it onto the thing lurking in the sewer that's trying to pull him into itself. He decides it's time to remind the world of just what the Fox Lord is capable of.

With a snarl, he expels Essence and grows to his full height, which was two hundred miles. Niki stares up at him, the bitch pales and he snarls before one of his tails shots towards the spot where the tentacles were trying to drag him. He pins Niki to the ground with a single claw and his tail breaks through the road with easy, spearing the lurker in the sewers. The thing howls in pain and he uses his free paw to make the hole bigger.

It's not long before the abomination is dragged to the surface. The thing has the nerve to try and merge with him. With a single snap of his jaws, the blob of shadows dies, he swallows the thing whole. He glares furiously at Niki, not caring for the ruin his Materialization had caused to the surrounding area of warehouses. (Traitorous bitch of my spawn! You think you'd get away with that, didn't you? It seems that you think I've grown weak since my banishment, huh? Now you will tell me who else had a claw in this or so help me, I'll kill of your husband and your broods!) He orders Niki, it's not long before he realises just how wide this decay has spread. It appals him that he had just welcomed them into this territory, thinking that they'd abide by the vows and rules he made recently and ages ago.

It takes him a while to calm down, he notices a few humans have seen him but the terror that's coming off of him in waves would most likely convince them that they're better off forgetting what happened this night. Soon enough, he shrinks to about ten feet in height and calls Nido to his side. His eldest son looks slightly annoyed until Nido notices Niki being pinned to the ground by him. (Gather them all, Nido. It seems there are those in the family who have decided that it's of more profitable to sell out my head then to live in a comfortable, well managed territory.) He snarls and Nido nods rapidly, vanishing so quickly that an after imagine was left behind.

Niki whimpers and he knocks her out. He gathers her body up with one of his tails. He shifts into the Hisil to travel to the center of the territory that he had Naruto set up around. He felt slightly for the pup, since from the sound of things, there were things lurking in this land that were promised the honour of killing the solo Urtha of this territory once he's out of the way.

o!o

They've came, gathered in the Hisil echo of the park closest to Naruto's den, there were tens of thousands of them from around the world. All of them have his blood running through them in one form or another. Nido and Nido's siblings were in truest forms, settled before him. It smoothes his heart to know that none of his own children were among the guilty, but the same could not be said for their broods.

He used an ability that allows him to check to see who broke faith with their family vows and that are on the verge of going against their bans when it comes to serving the family's interest. A rough estimate of three eights of those gathered have either violated either vows or on the verge of breaking the family ban. He's upset that there were so many that have gone beyond that point. He had been hoping that it would only be one tenth of the family or even one twentieth.

As soon as they're settled, he begins addressing the mob of blood kin lounging before him. He sits up, causing them all to become prepared for what he has to say and why they had to attend this without any preparation or a day's warning. (This night I took to the hunt, I followed someone I thought I could trust. She led me into a trap and had the nerve to turn her back on me when I ordered her to help me kill the blasted beast. I not only killed the thing on my own, but I consumed it in one gulp.) He says and a few of those that Niki had named shift nervously.

(I then demanded her to tell me why she would turn on me, to help an enemy over aiding a family member. She talked, not just about her actions but of other conspiracies, of deals others of this family have made known to her. She also mentioned that I had become weak, that I'm a disgrace to all things since I willing made a pact with an Uratha!) He says, he glares at those that had been named and others that were becoming corrupted.

(Haven't you, oh Lord? Where were you when the Boarder Marshes were strengthen?) An uppity whelp asks. (In a world that's no like either of known realms. In a world where flesh and spirit are renewed without needing to rely on Loci, where there is only the physical. Where no Wounds exist, where man is not so numerous as this world, and where Essence is combine with physical energy to make a fused energy call Chakra. I myself, had been a being of both flesh and spirit, like an Uratha. Sure, those humans that use Chakra are a threat but luckily, they're too busy doing degrading jobs and fighting in senseless wars to be much of a problem.) He replies and adds thoughtfully, (I left this realm as a mere spirit, much like you all, and returned as something more, something that doesn't rely on the 'right' type of Essence to keep its sanity, I am what I hope to guide you to be. But for now though, I don't know the rite that would open a functional gate to that world, I had arrived there by accident and returned by accident.)

A murmur erupts from those before him, some didn't believe that, but those that had been on hunts with him had seen him consume tons of tainted spirits of not just tainted by Wound energy but also of fear, hate, loathing, and other such corrupting Essence. He had pretty much abandoned any ideas of really by trying to rule as much of the gurihal since he's seen just how decay that world is and what kind of effects it has on in Hisil, on not just his family but on any spirit he's seen since he arrived. He also believes that Naruto might be the key to opening such a gate since it was Naruto who when from Hidden Leaf to Hisil and finally to gurihal.

He sits back, watching the vast mob before him debate on this subject. He's curious as to how this would end, so he reframes from stepping in. He'll call a halt to it when it becomes a brawl. He can only hope that his family will be patient and will feed off of the nature Essence the Loci's giving off in the following years without any real complains.

/?/Naruto

He blinks as he attempts to figure out where all the fox spirit had gone off to; he hasn't seen or heard from any of the fox squatters. He found a few bat spirits fluttering about before they headed off to their hunting ground in the Hisil. He couldn't help but reflect that his territory was becoming something of a nature park, only with temporary possessions going on, between an hour to about a week.

Of course depending on the time allotted for spirit possessions that a spirit is allowed to do is depending on just how big of a service can be called on when they're services are needed. Oddly enough, he can't use certain themed type gifts and those themed under the Mother Luna's and Urfarah's lists are those any Uratha can use, but in the end, he's limited to those under those Knowledge, Shaping, Technology, Elemental, and finally, those themed under his Auspice, the crescent moon. There are five ranks when it comes to Gifts and Rites and they correspond to the number of Renowns one has in those Renowns that either the tribe values or their Auspice.

He can preform Rites and Gifts up to two bands, corresponding to the number of Renowns he has currently has which were two in Cunning, two in Wisdom, and a recent Renowned awarded to him from a Lune, Purity. He's gained his second Wisdom Renown from October and the one for Purity, ironically, for how 'clean' his territory is, which really made him wondering how he could earn that one when he has like, tons of spirits who do often times, possess people on a semi-regular basis. Considering how many deals he has with any number of Animal, Artificial, and a few Elemental spirits and from those deals, he's filled up his all of his Gifts lists up to rank two and he hasn't had a chance to perform Rites since he needs to be with a Ritual Master to teach him Rituals, though he does know a few that the fox spirits can do, but again, he can't do any of them since he's not a fox spirit. He doesn't feel comfortable leaving the territory for a long time in order to study under a Ritual Master, well until another Uratha was around to pick up his duties, which means that if Lance Timber does undergo his change during the next few months, he has time to train Lance before spring arrives so he can get a proper introduction with a Ritual Master of his tribe.

After about an hour, he gives up trying to locate any fox spirits and head to the basement to put the pendent in that circle Kyuubi and the other spirits have set up to contain any new Loci he finds and they have yet to addend to. Once he puts it in the center of the ritual circle, he heads off to nap until Kyuubi returns from where ever the nine-tails spirit fox was.

But as he lies on his mattresses, his thoughts turn to the big upcoming holiday called Christmas. He wonders how he'll gather enough money so he can buy Kim and her aunt Christmas gifts…


	8. Chapter 8

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8

He managed to talk Nancy into letting him work part time at the store during the morning, which means he's forgoing his morning patrol and it seems that Kyuubi doesn't seem to mind that, from what he can tell, Kyuubi's occupied with something and had merely waves him off when he told him. And since Kyuubi was occupied, he told Nicu about Lance Timber but left out about the locus that's down stairs, in the circle that's neutralizing the fear and paranoia aura coming from the simple pendant. But even then, he can tell that even Nicu was busy thinking about something else.

'_Come to think about it, all of the fox spirits are distracted. Also, a lot of the squatters have made they have made themselves scarce as well. It's been about two days since I saw anything that wasn't a fox spirit…'_ He muses to himself as he walks to the book store owned by the wolf-blood Nancy June.

He looks around the street, glancing at the bare trees as he walks by. _'Or maybe they mimicked their flesh relatives and migrated south.'_ He thinks thoughtfully as he's reminded that winter is upon them. He receives some wary glances since he most think of him as a gang banger or someone even more dangerous, and they'd be right since he's not even human any more.

'_But then, I was never treated like a regular boy back then now was I? All they saw me as was a monster, a murderous beast not fit to breathe much less live among them.'_ He reflects darkly, he stops his thoughts there, not wanting to whip himself up in a rage when he has no way of harming those that had wronged him.

He sighs as he finds he's almost at the store. He heads to the rear door, there he knocked and he waits for Nancy to open the door. He grins at Nancy and it's not long for Nancy to usher him into the back. He smiles slightly as Nancy fusses over him, he enjoys that she does that since the only other being that ever came close to fussing over him had been the old chief at his favourite Ramen bar, Teuchi.

Nancy hands him a mug of hot chocolate and he smiles slightly under the attention Nancy's giving him. Soon he's sitting at the table with Kim with a plate of sausages and a waffle. He doesn't refuse the kind gusher and eats what's on his plate. Soon Kim notices the time and bolts from the table, within what he's sure is some kind of whirl wind happed within those few minutes before the back door opens and Kim shouts out her good byes to bother Nancy and himself.

"Well, let's get started." Nancy says she's done putting the dishes into the dishwasher and he nods. For the next hour, he helps move boxes around and refilled the shelves with new books or fills them with more copies of those books they sold. As he finishes dusting the shelves, Nancy switches the sign to say Open and he then sits at the counter while Nancy goes up stairs to watch some television shows before letting him go at noon.

He debates what to do this afternoon once he steals his lunch from a butcher shop, he wonders why none of the local butchers notice his thefts, but then, seeing how there's like eight butch shops within his usual haunts and he usually steals twice a week, he strikes each of the eight shops at different times and tries to juggle which two to visit a week. He tries really hard not to steal from shop A and shop B the next time he wants to steal from shop A, since there are so many shops, he's thefts are pretty random, well, he hopes it seems that way. He really doesn't want people to increase their security to proven that from happening or to catch him red handed.

In the end, it was checking on Lance Timber that won out over patrolling the ruined warehouse district for any signs as to what caused all of that damage. As he sees it, Kyuubi must have taken care of something and he's reluctant to ask the fox about it since he gets this feeling he's not going to enjoy listening to the answer and the reasons why the fox couldn't wait for him to help out. He shrugs it off, turning his thoughts to locating the nzusul he found trying to stop a Ridden from doing something to that drunken teen.

Once he's crossed over his boundary marker, he finds a phone booth and look for any listings for the Timbers, deciding to start at Lance's parent's place, if they're still alive, and going from there. He finds about three Timbers listed and he memorizes them before heading off to check out the addresses.

In his search, he opts not to shape shift in order to use one of Mother Luna's Gifts, a one ranked gift called Partial Change, this allows him to transform a part of his body in order to fulfill a task, like transforming his nose while in his Hishu form in order to track scent better. He also knows the second ranked Gift of the same theme called Anybeast that allows him to mimic a carnivorous beast roughly the same size and build as his usual body size in his Urshul or Urhan form. From what he recalls of Anybeast, it also affects his Dalu and Gauru forms as well.

It takes an hour to find the closest Timber residency and knocks on the door after composing himself for a hostile greeting. "What do you want?" The old and formable woman asks, glaring at him through the door slit. "Do you know a Lance Timber by any chance?" He asks politely, a part of him not liking the looks he's receiving. "No." With that the woman closes the door, he turns around and walks off, as he goes his body relaxes slightly from the tension within him to snap at the old bitch for the disrespect she was showing him.

About a half an hour later, he makes it to the second address. He finds himself in an apartment building and he buzzes a Michael Timber. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know a Lance Timber?" He asks into the intercom, he tries to sound friendly. "No, now leave." The man's voice says, he narrows his eyes at the intercom before turning around and walking out of the building.

'_If the next are as rude…'_ He thinks threateningly as he stalks through the streets, imagines of torture he'd be more then willing to deal out play out in his murderous thoughts, he knows he'll not follow through with them, it just wasn't him to take a life out of annoyance. He finally makes it to the third address; he walks into the apartment and notices the apartment number of a Gabriel Timber.

He knocks on the door and tired looking woman answers the door. "Yes?" She asks and he asks, "I'm wondering if I may speak with a Lance Timber?" The woman looks alert and asks, "What about?" "I think he drop something while walking a drunken teen home a while back. I want to see if it belongs to him." He answers. The woman studies him, as if trying to debate about if he's a danger or not.

A slightly sniff tells him that the woman was a wolf-blood, which means that the baby that begins to cry in the back might either be Lance's sibling or his own, since teen pregnancy does happen. The woman makes up her mind and tells him, "He's currently in school, Jerold High School of Higher Learning." He nods his thanks and heads off; finally glad to have located Lance's family.

By the time he arrives at the high school, the teens were coming out. He watches the massive mobs of humans walk out of the building. He notes Lance as he walks pass a gang of well dressed jocks, he think they're jocks since they seem to have some kind of picture of a lion on the back of the uniform jackets with some words he can't make out since they're too far for him to read the words correctly. He watches as the gang pick on Lance, he watches as they're words bring out Lance's anger and the teenage nuzusul attempts to lash out at his tormentors.

A slight ring of students gathers around Lance. He narrows his eyes and he hops off the wall and heads towards the ring. He pushes his way through the students to get a better look without anyone blocking his way. He shifts nervously as he attempts to transform his nose to get a better sniff at the kind of emotions coming from the two combatants but the Gift fails and no part of his body transforms much to his relief, though he's slightly bitter that his invoking failed.

He closes his eyes as he notices the dormant rage within Lance making itself known. He begins to look around, hoping that someone reasonable will step in and try to stop the fighting, knowing that if nothing stops the fight, Lance will transform before the moon is out. He pales slightly as people begin to egg Lance on and cheer Bill, the jock's name, on.

He backs out of the group; there wasn't much he could do without exposing himself to the student body. He can only back away and watches the events unfold from a far. He climbs back up onto the wall as a scream erupts from the fight's direction.

Once he's settled on the wall, he watches as Lance in the form of a black furred Gauru moves away from the dead body of Bill and advance onto the rest of the jocks. Most of the students turn and flee, they're the ones under the full blown affects of Lunacy, the few that remain rooted to the spot were those most likely have a slightly above average amount of will power and were trying to throw off most of the effects of Lunacy.

He figures those are wolf-blooded humans since only a wolf-blood would have some defence against Lunacy, not that it'll help them, seeing how in Lance's rage driven mind, they were also enemies that needed to be gotten rid of. He's heard of the kind of transformation that Lance invoked unknowingly. If Lance remembers everything that happened during this rage, then it's his official transformation into an Uratha, if not, then his official change will take place in a few days up to a week and a bit.

As the body hit the brown chilly grass, Lance collapses in onto himself. The teen begins to rock slightly; he can hear Lance whisper a phase over and over again. He can't make it out, but he can guess what Lance is repeating to himself. It's not long before he's lightly stepping over the cooling bodies.

Lance jerks up and stares at him. "Are you an angel sent to kill me?" Lance asks as tears run down the guy's face. His expression softens and places a comforting hand on Lance's shoulder. "I don't think so, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I don't know what you're going through since my changed occurred without anyone taunting me, let alone in a middle of a fight. But if you want, I can help you try and come to terms with what you are, Lance." He says softly. Lance blinks and looks down at his hands, blood stains them as well as his chest and face.

"What am I?" Lance asks. "You're an Uratha, Lance. If you join one of the Moon tribes, you will not only find understanding, but also find redemption and a purpose in your new life. But I'll tell you now; this is what you were meant to be, Lance. I wished with all of my heart that this would have occurred in a much safer location, without anyone around for you to vent on, but it didn't and we have to go. We can't remain here and don't think about turning yourself in either. We got to go before someone thinks to call the police." He says to Lance.

"But I killed them…" Lance says and he sighs. "Lance, you can't get arrested, if you do, there will be more deaths, especially if you transform again in your holding cell or jail cell. 'The herd must not know,' Lance and if you don't come with me now, I won't have a choice but to kill you in order to keep that from happening." He says urgently. Lance jerks and stares at him, as if seeing him for the first time.

Slowly, Lance stands up. Soon they head into the sewerage to move around without anyone knowing. He's slightly bitter about that, but he can only hope he's guiding them in the right direction. After hours of traveling, he checks out the street above, on seeing that they're close to his boundary, he nods thoughtfully before heading back down into the sewer.

Within a half an hour, they make it to his house. Lance shudders and looks cold, he motions for Lance to enter into the building ahead of him. He scans the area, noticing the wet foot prints leading up to the building. He glances up and says a quick pray to the great mother, even if it's a new moon, he knows she'll hear his pray or at the very least, a Lune had. He prays that Lance will accept his help and trust him as Lance begins to learn just how heavy a burden Lance has to carry. He hopes that it's a good omen that Lance listened to him from the start; he can only guess what kind of emotions Lance is experiencing.

He comes into the building and finds Lance passed out on his bed. He sighs and covers the teen with some blankets to keep the teen warm. He takes estimates of Lance's size and once the heater is on and he scribes a note to Kyuubi or any fox spirit about whom Lance was and why he's there. He takes a bundle from his money stash and heads out to get another trunk, he hopes, and then various cloths for Lance to wear, including runners and a warm jacket.

/?/Lance

He woke to an unfamiliar room, filled with what he thinks is the scent of foxes and that of something like him. He looks blankly at the heater before looking around for his cloths… only to realise he's naked and then came the memories of why he's naked… He holds himself as he begins to cry.

"I didn't mean too… But all I could see what red… Please God Oh Almighty, forgive me for my transgressions. Please, I just want my old life back…" He whimpers, he hears somebody enter, but doesn't care, thinking that it might be the blond who looks so much like an angel, even with those whiskers scars on his cheeks.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were Naruto." A girl says, he looks up and stares at the nervous girl. "He brought me here, I fell asleep…" He says, trailing off as he reminds himself that he's a murder. "Then you're an Uratha then? I guess you've just underwent your transformation." The girl says, he looks sharply at her, trying to comprehend something.

"According to Naruto, I'm an Uratha in-training. I know the name he used starts with an n and there's a few us in it, but yea, if you think about it, I'm still waiting on my first transformation." The girl says, looking at him, giving him a wondering look but wasn't too fearful at the fact he has dry blood on his hand, face, and chest. "I'm a murder." He says dully.

"Must have been man slaughter or Naruto wouldn't bring you into his territory, let along into his den." The girl says with a slightly smile. "What the difference?" He asks bitterly as he adds, "I still killed those people." "Murder is premeditated while man slaughter is kind of an emotional out burst that killed someone or some ones in this case." The brunet explains, she settles on the floor, not too far from the bed.

He can smell something coming off of her, it wasn't as strong as Naruto's scent but it was there, along with her too human scent. He notes dully that he's now paying more attention to scent then he ever had. He can't help it, it was like second nature. "Want to talk about it? It's usually helps if you do. Oh, by the way, I'm Kim Russell." Kim says and he nods as he replies in kind, "Lance Timber."

After he thinks about it, he begins to tell what happened. "School had ended and I had been heading off to my apartment building. It was Bill and his gang that started it. They began talking about my sister, saying how she's such a whore and asked if I was 'pimping' her out. I got pissed off and before I know it, people were starting to form a circle around Bill and me. The anger, it kept building and building. Soon all I saw was red and this need to kill my enemies. My body, it felt like liquid, the change didn't hurt per sae but then, I was in a rage…" He trails off. Kim doesn't say anything, merely waits for him to continue.

Before he gets a chance to continue, someone enters into the building. The blond, Naruto he reminds himself, has returned with a large and heavy looking trunk. "Hey Kim, Lance." Naruto says, sending a bright smile to them both. He can smell that scent on Naruto and yet, he can't help but still think that Naruto's some kind of heavenly being, those bright blue eyes had a sadness as well as wisdom in them, the blond hair was bright, as if it was spun from sunlight. The whisker marks kind of made Naruto look exquisite.

He watches as Kim and Naruto interact between them, he relaxes slightly as Naruto accepts that Kim's here, which means that he's accepted here as well. "Um, Lance? You might want to go change; you can take the blanket with you if you want to." Naruto says and he blushes red at that, he makes a make shift toga with the blanket before going through the trunk Naruto bought into the ruin building. He picks up something from each pile and the runners within the trunk. He exits out of the room to go change where Kim and Naruto don't see him get dressed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9

Though it took some doing, he had managed to get Lance to eat the occasional raw steak and to do other things then sit around, going between brooding to self-pity and to self-denial. It took more effort to teach Lance how to shape shift into this other forms, but Lance did get the hang of it and with a visit from a Lune from the new moon choirs, Lance gain a renown in Cunning and two gifts to use from under those that Irraka Uratha are allowed to pick from, until Lance gets into a tribe then he gets another renown and a chance to pick up another Gift or, more likely seeing how getting spirits to cooperate into teaching gifts were easier when they're trying to kiss Kyuubi's furry but, to train with a Rite Master to learn how to perform a Ritual.

Lance seemed overwhelmed by the fact that there were 'good' spirits out there and that Werewolves do have a connection to the moon, just not in the way Lance thought about was all. He told Lance about how the Uratha were conceived between the Urfarah and Luna, he even touched a bit on the fact that Urfarah was dead and that Luna's kind of angry with the Uratha about that. He didn't think it'd do anything for Lance's confidence to find out just what happened with about the Uratha killing Urfarah and bringing an end to the Hunter's Paradise or that the Moon tribes are trying to fill some huge paw prints by taking over Urfarah's roles, the roles that they're assigned to take on transforming the first time under Her light, or hidden light as the case maybe with the new moon.

Though searches were conducted for Lance for what happened at his old high school, none of the police managed to find Lance in order to question him since Lance stuck to his Urhan while in the physical world and doesn't have any quarrels about spending extended time in the Hisil, investigating any new changes to occur within the shadow lands, something he relied on the fox spirits to do before Lance joined him in living within the boundaries of this stretch of city. Now he has someone to act as back up as well as to be somebody's back up. Though Lance seems slightly depressed, he could only hope that when they head off to the nearest gather, Lance will perk up and find a tribe he's interested in joining.

Christmas had been a quiet affair with Lance and himself hanging out with Kim and Nancy that day, he watched all three of them open their gifts. Sure, Lance put up a protest, but he just waved it away, mentioning that Lance could always get him two gifts next year. He got Lance a hat, Nancy received a DVD, and he had gotten Kim a camera, thinking that seeing that Kim's not good at painting, she could use the camera to take pictures instead. On the other end of the spectrum, from Nancy he received a few volumes of Inu-Yasha and from Kim, he received a Dream Catcher.

It's March now and he had received word from a website about a Gathering happening, it also mentioned five new Uratha that would be going through some local games in order to get ready to form a pack. He was interested in that and decided that instead of going to a gather happening in April, Lance and him would to this month's Gathering in a western state that's a few flights away from this stretch of territory. They left Kyuubi behind, deciding that they could handle this, though Lance wasn't too pleased with the idea of traveling in a kennel, he wasn't too happy either, people kept asking him about his parents or any other guardians he might have.

It took a large amount of his self control to keep from snarling and snapping people as he gets off the plane. He picked up Lance's kennel, the black furred Uratha gave him a dirty look and he just shook his head before opening the cage. It took time to get a cab and to get a hotel room, he's just glad that nobody was questioning why he's paying in cash as he lies on the bed while Lance watches the TV.

Jet lag was getting to them both, but they still had to head out later that night to introduce themselves to those that showed up. He did wonder if those new Uratha would be willing to join his pack, which includes in his mind, Nancy, Kim, Lance, Kyuubi as the pack's totem, and himself. "So, when will we head out?" Lance asks, snapping out of his doze.

"Is it dark out?" He asks the teen. "I think so. Should we get something to eat before meeting up with them?" Lance asks, he glances at the teen, he's still not use to the fact that Lance's deferring to him in most matters. _'He really needs a confidence boost.'_ He decides privately. "This is neutral territory; I doubt we should risk it. Well, I guess we best be going to the meeting point." He says as he gets off the bed. Lance nods and within seconds, Lance is in his Urhan form.

Once they were on the out skirts of the town, Lance transforms back into his fully clothed Hishu form. It's not long for them to sniff out others like them, though a few did stare at him for a few extra minutes, it seems they're not use to having someone as young as him undergo his first transformation before puberty. There were a few looks given to Lance, but most of the attention was on him.

"And where do you think you're going, whelp?" A brown skinned man with a few scars on his arms asks with his arms crossed. He stares the man in the eye; they have a staring contest in which the man looks away. One of the two Uratha that were walking with the guy were to be surprised about the outcome of the little contest. "Anything else you want to object to?" He asks the man, the man just scowls but leaves him alone.

A few Uratha nod his way, he knows they're Iron Masters like himself, he doesn't know how he knows, only that they were. And soon enough, the five Uratha that were the 'stars' of this Gathering walk with their respective mentors. The youngest of the group looks to be thirteen with the eldest being either sixteen or seventeen, Lance was sixteen turning seventeen this coming August.

The youngest out of the group was Jeremy Hunter; he was a Rahu of the Storm Lord. He looks to be of First Nation descent but he has brown spiky hair with flashing hazel green eyes. Jeremy's wearing rugged black jeans, a long sleeved brown shirt with a black leather vest. He could tell that Jeremy's nervous since the teen kept glaring at those present, almost daring them to deny he's right to be here and his readiness to join this pack.

There were twins were fourteen and are fraternal twins at any rate seeing how neither could be mistaken for each other. Jenny and Rachel Sullivan, Jenny was a few minutes older and Jenny is also the brunet while Rachel's the strawberry blond. Both of them were of the Blood Talons and had bronze tans, though Rachel was the first to transform under the new moon, was an Irraka like Lance while Jenny transformed a two months later under the half moon, making her an Elodoth. They both were wearing cloths that have seen better times, jeans with leather jackets zipped up, so he can't tell what kind of shirt they're wearing. Rachel also has a pendant around her neck while Jenny doesn't wear anything decoration.

A fourteen year old going onto fifteen with about two weeks, Kurt Simmons was an Ithaeur, like himself, and was of the Bone Shadows. The pale looking kid was already wearing about three different necklaces and two bracelets on either wrist. A haunted look was already appearing in Kurt's black eyes. Kurt's wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt with a vest.

Then there's Juliana Boyer who's the oldest of the group. This young adult was also an Elodoth like Jenny, but of the Hunters in Darkness. Juliana's icy blue eyes looked like shards, betraying no emotion to those around her. Juliana's hair looked like someone had recently buzzed cut it off with a shaver since he could practically see Juliana's sculpt, which made it hard for him to figure out what colour her hair was. Juliana's wearing a necklace with what appears to be a piece of antler on a leather rope.

He wonders what kind of pack this will be like, seeing as they'll have two Elodoth. A calm and elderly looking Uratha named Adolph 'Grey Back' Cabrera, a member of the Iron Masters and himself an Elodoth begins greeting everyone and talking about what a special time it is for a new pack to be formed, he tried real hard to pay attention, but Grey Back's voice could lull people to sleep, Lance doesn't seem to have the same trouble since Lance seems to be focusing on what's being said. Mostly, he studies those that are in attendance for this gather.

As the new Uratha join up when Grey Back finishes his speech and was about to begin speaking once more, most likely about the trails they're about to face when that guy from earlier, Delmar 'Wild Eye' Scott demands, "What about the whelp and the Ghost? Aren't they here to join this pack?" Wild Eye waves his hand towards Lance and him; he glances at everyone in turn before saying calmly, "We're just here to to introduce ourselves, nothing more."

"Oh and where's your territory?" Wild Eye demands of him. He knew he shouldn't have answered, but he did anyway and all of those around paled slightly on hearing which state and city he's from. The newer Uratha seem confused, even Kurt betrays emotion as he looks towards his mentor.

Jenny's mentor recovers enough to ask, "How long have you been living there?" "Since the end of June, the local pack was whipped out before I claimed it. It seems none of the Pure noticed that they're gone, Lance is the only recent nuzusul in the area that's underwent his first change since I began holding territory there." He replies and a few glances over at Lance with renewed interest while Lance looks slightly puzzled about the sudden attention he's receiving.

"He transformed when?" Jeremy's mentor asks and he replies, "Since some time in November." "You did all of that on your own?" Wild Eye scoffs, he glances into Wild Eye's eyes for a few seconds before saying, "A powerful fox spirit's pretty much agreed to be the pack's totem when we get enough Uratha to form an official pack. He's the one most spirits are trying to suck up too, so not too many trouble spirits enter into the territory without one of the suck ups reporting it." He's telling the truth seeing how independent foxes are; it's a wonder why any of the fox spirits obey Kyuubi's commands at all.

An awkward silence follows this claim, the newer Uratha were just plain puzzled, though Kurt and Juliana seem to understand enough of the spirit world to know that if spirits are sucking up to another spirit, that spirit's most likely a very powerful spirit and that it's more then likely the fox has plans of its own, even though the fox is helping Lance and him by acting like a totem. He highly doubts they'll contain themselves if they find out that the fox in question was Kyuubi, the father of foxes. He's glad that Lance has left this to him, even though this is the first time he's ever dipped his hand into politics, he sure he can manage his way out of this without suffering too much, after all, he's managed to pass all but the final test for the Genin examine, he's just got to remember all the skills he's learnt from living in Hidden Leaf.

o!o

"That turned out well." Lance comments as they head back to the hotel at four in the morning. "Which part? The one where we got six more additions? Or the fact that you've got a chance to be tested in order to get initiated into the Hunters in Darkness by the end of this Gathering and you start this afternoon?" He asks Lance in curiosity. He also found it surprising that only Lance and his coat color reflect their hair colours, they had joined in hurrying the new Uratha through the undergrowth with the others that night as part of the 'Games' that are played when a new packs being formed, or in this case, giving them valuable experience in getting chased by 'hostile' Uratha.

Since his territory is in the middle of Pure packs, the fresh Uratha weren't going to have an easy go of it, especially when they're coming to terms with the fact that the pack totem's going to be the ancient and banished Fox Lord, Kyuubi. All of the Hunters in Darkness, other then Juliana, were going to focus on testing Lance over the next few days, he can only hope that during that time, Lance faces the doubts that plague him and over comes them in order to move on with his new life, though he doesn't understand why Lance was to join Hunters in Darkness out of all the tribes present.

While that's happening with Lance, he gets to spend time with Grey Back. He's not sure why Grey Back wants to spend time with him, but he guesses it's a honour to be asks by someone as revered as Grey Back seems to be if the fact he's the one who began the Gathering by being the first speaker. His stomach growls but he knows that he'll fill it with something once the café opens up so he can grab a bit to eat.

Once they get into his room, Lance doesn't bother shape shifting into an Urhan since nobody's awake at this time or are too fearful to leave their houses. Unlike the other Urathas, Lance and him are the only ones renting a room at the inn. The others are camping out or just sticking with their Urhan forms.

Once they entered into the room, they both fell asleep on the bed, fully clothed; he got the bottom half of the bed, leaving Lance with the pillows. He curls up slightly in order to get more warmth. Lance hugs a pillow as the teen curls up slightly, though taking up more room then what Naruto was.

o!o

He wakes as he hears a knock on the door. He nudges Lance slightly before checking to see who's at the door. "I was just wondering if you…" The man says, he studies the keys in the man's hands before the man hides them behind his back. "What time is it?" He asks between yawns. "About ten." The man says and he shuts the door on the man's face.

"Time to get up, Lance, we got a busy day today." He says as he leans close to Lance's exposed ear. The lights were on and within the next few minutes, Lance does wake. He's done with the shower and then Lance has his. Soon he heads off to grab something while Lance shape shifts into his Urhan form. Within thirty minutes, he returns with food and they eat in silence.

He can't help but reflect that it's odd that Lance is deferring to him, but in the end, he feels slightly pleased with that since it means he's in charge. He knows which side of his nature is pleased with that, a huge hunk was that of his wolf instincts with a smidgen of what he had also liked this fact that he's the one dictating what goes on. But he knows that he's going to be challenged for leadership once they make it back to his territory, he can already guess that all of them are going to take their shot and he's determined not to rely on Kyuubi helping him out from within his belly.

This will be a test, a test that he shall pass seeing as he can't become Hokage, he'll aim at being the pack Alpha. While those others have not just reach on their side, but age as well, but, then, he's got an edge on them, one that's been developing from the time he lived on his own to the here and now. Unlike all of them, he's schooling his body, homing his reflexes, senses, and in the end, the energy that's almost similar to Essence for years. He's also got experience on fighting powerful spirits on his own, he took out that wannabe totem ferret that was suppose to be guarding that den with that pack's locus.

He lived with a whole village turned against him and he's not going to just offer them his neck just because they're older then him and they think they're more 'capable' of leading others. He's going to protect his position with all he's got, while not relying on Kyuubi's powers at all.

"Naruto?" He hears Lance say questioningly. "Yea, Lance?" He asks, glancing over to his pack-mate. "What are you worried about just now?" Lance asks. "That I'm going to have to fight for my right to stay as top dog in this pack." He answers, not seeing any reason not to answer Lance. "You think you'll lose?" Lance asks curiously. He snorts as he replies, "I'm not a push over, even if I look young, Lance. It's on their head if they think I'll just flop over and offer them my throat just because they challenging me." He pauses and glances over to the teen.

"Not that I'm not grateful about you not challenging me, but you might if I ask you why you never tried? I mean, shouldn't you feel insulted by following someone shorter then you?" He asks Lance.

/?/Lance

"Not that I'm not grateful about you not challenging me, but you might if I ask you why you never tried? I mean, shouldn't you feel insulted by following someone shorter then you?" The blond asks him, he looks away. It's not that it hadn't crossed his mind before; it has a few times as he begins to come to terms with his new set of instincts. "I thought you an angel, you know? The way your hair seems to be made from sunlight, your eyes are so intense, there's something in there, in you. You also didn't just leave me hanging at the high school, you snapped me out of that depression. You used your own hard earned cash to buy me new cloths and gave me a new home." He says.

"I've also seen you fight, I might not know a whole lot about this world that I have found myself in and I've seen you train yourself to exhaustion. You give things you believe in your all, like with me, you didn't just extend the hand, you grasped it before I knew what was going on and you pulled me up. You were willing to carry me until I'm ready to stand on my own two feet. You've got what it takes to be not just a good leader, but one of those that change the history of nations, Naruto. I want to be there to see you do it, change the face of this world." He says, staring into the twelve year olds eyes. Instead of looking prideful like a lot of egoists, Naruto looks humbled, unshed tears shine in Naruto's eyes. "But you barely know anything about my past…" Naruto says softly. "The past is the past, it made you what you are and future events will help shape you some more." He says and Naruto nods, blinking the unshed tears.

It's not long before they head off into different directions to meet with appointments they promised to show up for. He feels slightly more confident since Naruto had asked him that question. He felt a determined to pull this off; he wants to make something of himself, not only to represent Naruto but to find out just what he's made of. His thoughts drift off to that night he confronted that Ridden before he transformed into an Uratha. Sure he almost died, but he almost died for something. He wants to feel like that again and he hopes that joining Hunters in Darkness could help him with that.

He had chatted with some of the fox spirits that hang about the territory, learning as much as he can about the Moon tribes and to a lesser extent, the Pure tribes. He liked the deeds Hunters in Darkness are known to perform, to protect their territory in subtle ways, trying not for direct confrontation like some of the tribes. They're also known for spending lots of time in their Urhan, something which he finds himself doing for obvious reasons. He will do his best and if that's not good enough then there are other tribes to chose from.


	10. Chapter 10

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10

He knows who's to blame as he ducks down and bites down onto Jeremy's right side. Jeremy bellows and punches him in the head. He grab's a hold of Jeremy's leg and as he pulls away, he offsets Jeremy's balance and with a blow to the stomach and then to the lower jaw, Jeremy falls to the ground. He grabs Jeremy's throat and keeps holding on until Jeremy transforms back into his Hishu from. He spats out the blood, glad he hadn't swallowed it, he had focused on breathing through his nose the whole time, keeping himself from swallowing had been a battle in and of itself.

He transforms into his Dalu form, glaring at Kurt and Juliana, now with Jeremy down, he's to fight one of those two. His injuries were healing at an even more rapid rate then what they should now that he's not fighting. Within seconds, he feels much like he had before he battled Jeremy. He stands straighter, he rotates his shoulders and his neck slightly with soft pops and cracks follow this for a few seconds before he relaxed. (Who's next?) He asks in the First Tongue.

Kurt glances at Juliana, she steps forward and, she's choices the body in which they'll fight as, Jeremy had opted for Gauru. Juliana opts for Urshul form, though before transforming she takes off her cloths so she doesn't ruin them. He mimics Juliana's choice, they circle each other for a few minutes, with his tail was straight out, horizontal to the ground. He jumps out of the way as Juliana charges him, he lands and charges her in turn, they met mid way.

Juliana's jaws bite into his shoulder; he twists and manages to get his lower legs under her. He shoves off with his back, his back claws dig into Juliana's chest and with a kick; he launches himself through the dirt. He can tell that Juliana was taken back by that move, giving him time to right himself as she recovers and begins to attack once more. He dodges most of Juliana's attacks; his training was paying off since Juliana was becoming frustrated. (Hold still, damn you!) Juliana growls out in the First Tongue.

He cocks his head to the side, a slightly wolfish grin on his face as his blue eyes sparkle slightly in amusement. (What's wrong? Can't keep up with this 'whelp'?) He asks with amusement. Juliana snarls as she charges him, rage most likely beginning to cloud her judgement. He begins to use Juliana's rage against her; he strikes quickly and frequently as he moves in and out of her sloppy defences.

Juliana bellows in a mindless rage and charges him, he decides to chance it, seeing how Juliana wasn't thinking clearly and wouldn't be able to think of reacting quick enough to counter it. He does a slight flip as he's in the air and he comes right down on Juliana, slamming into her with his back facing her. He hits her in the mid of her back, she cries out in pain. He flips to his left and grabs a hold of Juliana's left shoulder. A few movements and he's pretty much riding on her back in a piggy back style, he's not griping the back of her neck as he locks his limbs as best as he can around her sides.

Juliana tries to buck him off, roll on him in hopes of dislodging him; she'd leap into the air and try to snap at one of his forepaws. In time, Juliana wore herself out just trying to dislodge him from her back. As Juliana lies down, panting, he gets off and backs up a few paces. Juliana just glares at him, but in the end, doesn't move from her position. After a few minutes, Grey Back declares him the winner seeing how Juliana wasn't trying to attack him.

He glances over at Kurt, after a bit of a staring contest; Kurt looks away and turns to the side. This signals that Kurt's forfeiting his challenge. He glances around at those Uratha that had formed a bit of a circle around Juliana and him. Jeremy looks less then pleased to know that he's still in charge of the pack. He heads to where his cloths were piled, he's flushed from his victories, though he does muster enough anger to glare over at Wild Eye, not liking the fact that the elder Uratha had pushed this challenged on the excuse of making sure he doesn't cheat by some means.

It's not his fault that he trains until he drops in his other bodies styles, though his time in Gauru was short and often more about working out frustration and anger on offending ruined car in a scrap yard then about getting use to the body. He hated the fact that it's extremely difficult to remain calm and level headed while in that body, he could think of a vast array of training regiments for that body and he can't seem to be patient enough to go through those exercises without turning it into beating on something just because he can't stay in control with all of that fury and rage wanting to be expressed. This means he focuses on pushing the limits of his other forms.

He transforms into his Hishu form and puts on the cloths he took off. He's already back at full health, something that he knows more then a few of those Uratha realise, he glances around once he's done putting on his jeans, glancing at Juliana, Kurt, Jeremy, Jenny, Rachel, Grey Back, Wild Eye, and then everybody that showed up which doesn't include any of the other Hunters in Darkness other then Juliana. He finishes putting on his shirt and jacket and then does his socks and runners.

Soon enough the more experienced Uratha headed off, leaving him alone with the six inexperienced Uratha. He glances off towards the town before he glances back to them. "So, are any other objections to me being in charge?" He asks those gathered. Nobody voices a complaint so he continues, "Where we're going things are going to be working a little differently since you'll find a lot of fox spirits hanging out, I'll tell you now, don't harm them or you'll find yourself squaring off against our fox totem. All of those foxes have sworn vows of loyalty to him and as such, they're better sources of information when it comes to things beyond the territory then within it. While they're supposed to alert us to dangerous spirits, they'll more likely dismiss them since to the foxes, they're not a danger."

He continues, "I might as well tell you here and now, any spirits that enter into the territory and are willing to barter are those looking to spend a few days or hours possessing people, as much as you might want to, trying and stay friendly with them, they're most likely regular bargainers who are more then willing to trade different kinds of favours in return for some time fulfilling their hungers. Mostly, just make them vow not to do any real harm during the time they're Ridding somebody, favours build up and it's easy to call said favours in to learn Gifts or something else you want to know. If a spirit violates a contract, remember their names and tell Kyuubi or Kyuubi's son, Nido, they'll deal with it since we'll most likely be too busy dealing with other things and can't track those oath breakers down in Hisil."

He notices the others blink in surprise; apparently, they're most likely surprised about how things are handled in this territory. "But isn't the point to stop them from doing those type of things?" Jenny asks. "True but we're governing which spirits spend time in a human body, which is kind of what Uratha usually do only we're gathering favours through this practice and we also can set up quotas about how many Ridden are in our territory. In the end, we're mostly going after those that don't cooperate since we do need to hunt and they're our official prey in spirit turns." He answers, he can tell Kurt's thinking this over; clearly this was appealing to Kurt's nature.

"What kind of locus do we have?" Juliana asks. "We got a Nature locus, a Elemental locus, and a locus emitting fear and paranoia, the last we're goes to be using in order to distract the Pure, there are plans of putting it at a three way boundary where three Pure packs claim. The foxes are making modifications to it so it's harder for those spirits the Pure will most likely call on to locate it and to identify it as well. This will most likely cause some up roar and give us more time to secure our boundaries as well as strength our defences." He explains a few nods answer this solution, more then a few relax as if some kind of tension was lifted, which probably was the case.

"What kind of totem is this fox of ours?" Kurt asks. "He's a red fox with red eyes. He also sports nine long red tails, the very name Kyuubi means nine-tails in Japanese. He's kind of menacing and has already killed twenty Uratha and a horde of rogue spirits just because they were threatening me. So in effect, try not to annoy him too much, he's really good at making you piss yourself if he feels so incline without doing anything to invoke that reaction." He answers. A few snort in disbelief, but he did warn them so they can't blame him about not warning them.

"So, do we have to live together?" Rachel asks after a few minutes. "Not really, if you can afford to live in an apartment, go for it. I'm living in a ruin building that was a place where spirits of fear use to hang out at. Lance lives there too; we haven't gotten around to repairing it since we lack the tools and material to do so. We're going to give it a shot come this spring though. Is there anything more questions right now?" He asks.

Most shake their head, more then likely they want to digest what they've just learnt before asking more questions. He dismisses them and head off to his room in the town. He's mentally tired from the fights he's been in and wants to spend time just lazing around the room, hoping that Lance will show up before tomorrow morning.

/?/Kyuubi

He studies the latest members of Naruto's pack. They were all pretty much just staring at him; clearly they didn't know what to make of him, much to his masked amusement. He watches as the Uratha from Bone Shadow, he believes the pup's name is Kurt, eyes become gazed over, it's clear that Kurt's day dreaming about what kind of secrets he has. The Storm Lord named Jeremy was wary of him, the twins of the Blood Talon tribe were in awe of him, and the elder Uratha, most likely a year older then Lance, seems to be eyeing Nido and a few of his children like she doesn't know what to make of the fox spirits that were hanging off of him.

(I believe Naruto informed you of the kinds of bargains you can make with the local types, right?) He asks them, they look startled but they do nod. (And that any of those that violate the terms of the agreement are to be reported to me?) He adds, once more they all nod. (Then we won't have any conflicts.) He says dismissively.

They blink in such a way that reminds him of deer coming out of their stances and fleeing now that he lost interest with them. The twins pick up their bags and head off upstairs to set up their living quarters in the upper parts of the building. The others head off to find their own places to live, those that were leaving were followed with one of his children so they know where each of them will be living, he could only imagine Kim's reaction to the fact that there's two girls living in the same house as Lance and Naruto.

Once they're gone, he stretches his body. He becomes more transparent then before and shrinks as he begins to float towards Naruto's navel to get some rest in a place few will ever think to look for him or bother him within. He circles the floor of his ex-jail cell before settling down within it and curling his tails around his body as he begins to take his first restful nap he had since Naruto left the city. _'It's good to have him back.'_ Was his last thought before he dreamed dreams of massacring vast populations of humans in the world of Naruto's birth with ninja's unable to do anything to stop him.

/?/Naruto

He studies the corpses at the boarder of the city limits, Jeremy and Juliana were with him since they're the ones who found the pile. (What did this?) Jeremy wonders out loud as he flips a human corpse over with his snout, they were all in Urshul from, hoping to get a reliable scent to help them id the killer or killers.

He studies the way their throats were slashed, he notes the head protectors on their heads with slashed marks through their village symbols. He tears off one of the missing nin's vests and shirts to see if something had been placed on the nin's chest. He finds a Kanji of void on the red head's chest. He moves to each corpse in turn, removing the upper cloths and continues to find Kanji on their chests.

He shifts his form into that of a Dalu, he does uses Partial Change to alter his hand more into a smaller version of a Gauru hand like paw. He slices through the chest cavity and after putting his other hand into the chest, he finds he can't find a heart, liver, kidneys, the intestinal track, let alone the stomach, all he found was the lungs and lots of blood. He cocks his head to the side, wondering why three of the corpses had the Kanji of void on them while the other three had the characters for heaven, hell, and man.

"It must have been some kind of jutsu, but what kind and what happened to their organs… There are no other cuts except for the cut across the throat… What were they trying to accomplish?**"** He wonders to himself in Japanese, he hadn't realised he had switched languages until Jeremy and Juliana give him slightly annoyed looks. "Sorry, English and First Tongue are both my second languages." He tells them if they didn't know already.

Juliana snorts while Jeremy remains impassive. "I know what those characters are, the first one I saw means void, two others have that character too with the last three having different characters. Baldy has the Kanji for heaven, with scar face there has hell, and finally, wrinkly there has the character for man." He tells them, he then continues, "All I can find in the bodies are the lungs but I don't see how the organs were removed since it's clear from the outset, the only cuts the bodies have are the killing ones on their throats. I think we should take off the clothing, bury the bodies somewhere, and then burn the cloths."

(But why not let the humans deal with this?) Jeremy asks, Juliana replies before he could. (If that corpse doesn't have any organs, then they all don't. Can you imagine the kind of investigation that this kind of thing could launch? Though I think its Mages did this.) "It wasn't Mages, well, not in the traditional sense…" He corrects, knowing full well that this was down by a jutsu which meant it was done by ninjas using Chakra, an energy made by mixing energy of the spirit and physical energy. _'I guess ninja would be a subclass of mages seeing how they're using energy made out of Essence.'_ He mused to himself, soon he's taking off the cloths while Jeremy and Juliana find a safe place to bury the missing nins.

It's officially been a year, since this was the same day and month he arrived here in this realm and shed his humanity, becoming a being that's capable of shape shifting into five forms with using the Luna Gift called Partial Change to alter at least four of those forms to some extent, like what he did here tonight when he altered one of his hands into a hand like paw normal to find on his war form, the Gauru form. He studies the head protectors, knowing that none of them were of Hidden Leaf since there wasn't the typical leaf on any of the six head bands.

He wonders if this had anything to do with him, since this seems to be connected to his birth world… or was that, perhaps it's his birth realm? He ties to think of reasons why people would want to find him, most of those type of thoughts were about making sure he's dead, there are a few thoughts that wonder if it might be more to do with the Kyuubi then about him, seeing how he had been the container of the nine-tails fox spirit that's the Lord of all spirit Foxes like Urfarah was said to be Lord of all spirit Wolves and of the Uratha. He knows that the Third wasn't that heartless to sacrifice people for an untested jutsu, well, that's what he keeps telling himself at any rate.

Soon Jeremy arrives back and they each take a body, he follows Jeremy to the site where they're going to bury the bodies. It's not long before all six bodies were buried about six feet in the ground before they head off to burn the clothing he took off the corpses. He knows Kyuubi will want to talk about this in private, which most likely when the fox lord is within his navel. Only within his head could they chat privately about what's highly confidential matter.

As they travel through the city in their Hishu forms while carrying the cloths in some discarded plastic bags, he wonders just what's happening back in that realm that birthed him, that had been his home until a year ago this day. He wondered if any of his old classmates made Genin yet…

/?/Nobody's

The nine watch as the bodies vanish and after about ten minutes, they all realize that the summoning jutsu had failed to summon the Kyuubi's container. **"**We'll have to try again next month…**"** The leader decides and it's not long before the cavern is deserted, by the time they arrive to retry the jutsu, the lines in the dirt will most likely need to be drawn again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11

Those corpses seem to be a kind of signal for other odd occurrences to start showing their ugly heads. About two weeks after they got rid of the bodies and burnt their cloths, a group of three vampires entered into the territory. It had taken the summer to get rid of them; it didn't help matters when the vampires took Kurt hostage. The vampires had attempted to gain the upper hand by trying to bargain for Kurt's safe return.

While they had agreed that no Uratha would go near the vampire's lair to rescue Kurt, that didn't mean that they couldn't enter into the lair to get Kim though, seeing that Kim's still technically human until her first change. They got the vampires by surprise and when the leader tried to say they broke their word, he pointed out that Kim, who's a human, came to free Kurt while they came to escort Kim out of the lair. He was highly smug that the plan had worked, though none of them could touch Kurt until he was out of the vampire's lair since that would mean that they had broken their agreement.

Kyuubi enjoyed eating parts of the three vampires before they were set free, slightly weaker then when they arrived but not missing any motor important parts, like a leg, hand, or eye. Kurt fulfilled his tribe's ban about two days after the vampires were released. Though Kurt was edgy and jumpy until October came around, by then, Kurt had relaxed slightly, it helped that they dealt with an infestation of Rat Hosts before they became a large swarm, though the fox spirits wanted the pleasure of eating the corpses once they pointed out which rat had the shard in it.

Once more it's Halloween and he's dressed up in a costume that Kim talked him into wearing. The others were amused by the fact that the wolf blood related to the Ivory Claw tribe could get him to dress up for Halloween. Most of the others were just going to hang out and do things together while he's with Kim. Kyuubi's one son called Koic, a navy blue fox with three tails, was the only high ranking fox around since Kyuubi's gone off to chat with those Spirit Lords that weren't banished for two weeks with the rest of Kyuubi's imitate children, not including Koic, making up the escort. He figures the fox wants to find out what those Spirit Lords know about those six bodies that lacked organs.

"You look great dressed up like that!" Kim says she finishes applying her make up. He cocks his head to the side, not sure why Kim decided he would make a great Viking. He didn't much like the horned hat on his head, let alone the fact that his chest was exposed since the vest what Kim got him wasn't covering much and he couldn't do it up. He also had a plastic axe hanging on his belt. Furred boots covered his leg up to mid way up to his knee.

This year, Kim choice to dress up as a Native American shaman complete with some face paint. On Kim's shoulders was a puma skin, the head was covering Kim's hair. Faded brown leather leggings and a decorative loin cloth covered Kim's lower body with a pair of beaded moccasins on her feet. Kim's wearing a decorative Pow Wow dance shirt that's a dull yellow which made the beads seem brighter. A single red hand print on Kim's right side of her face with three dots of red under Kim's left eye.

"So, how do I look?" Kim asks him, she twirled around for him, if the puma skin wasn't held down with the belt; the bottom part would be flying out when Kim spun around. "You look good." He says and Kim nods.

They head down stairs, Kim hands her aunt the camera and Nancy takes a few pictures before they head out. He just hopes that Kim doesn't expect him to stick around after an hour has passed; he just doesn't see himself tolerating being around such a large crowd of humans for so long. He once more endured walking on the sidewalk as crowds of people go Trick-or-Treating, once more, he notices that the parents were on guard, as if they expect something big to happen this year. It was another thing he decided to blame on the pack of Pure that held this territory before he and his pack did.

They were heading towards the still ruined warehouse district to some kind of party called a 'Rave,' he doesn't get how it differs from a party but it seems that it does in some way. He cocks his head as they reach the fringe of the district, he could feel a beat from his feet as he pause. He focuses on listening and he could hear a dim of a loud crowd coming from deep within the ruined district. The closer they get to the source, the more the air and the ground vibrate with the loud music.

He pauses at the edge, just staring at the shear force of the crowd that's gathered at this Rave. He feels unnerved as he eyes the great herd that gathered here, at this site this evening. For the first time, he could just imagine what could happen if the humans knew about the world that exists under the trappings of their cities. He could just imagine vast armies about this number attacking the total population of Uratha, Pure tribes and the Moon tribes combined and winning.

He snaps out of it when Kim touches his right arm, he jerks slightly back, embarrassed of letting down his guard like he had. "Sorry, it's just that there are… And they're all here to…" He stutters out, waving his left hand at the herd before him, he can't help but think it was a herd since predators just don't live, let alone exist in these kinds of numbers around each. "Yea, it is kind of intimidating; people from all over the city are here. You'll most likely find loads of beer, drugs, even sex going on in this part of the city tonight." Kim tells him.

"I can't believe it's not called a festival, but then, I don't see a great number of booths selling food around, nor do I see fireworks." He admits, trying really hard to gather up enough courage to venture into the herd of humans but he just feels the need for his pack to be here with him to accompany him. There's safety in numbers, even if you're the minority.

Kim doesn't say anything as he tries to reason with himself. _'It's Halloween; it's a party night, kind of like a festival only with costumes. People are getting 'high' off drugs and are most likely drinking heavily, they're most likely going to be unable to recall what happens this night. Nobody believes Uratha exist, there's likely people in the crowd dress up like werewolves. It's just a large crowd of people, as long as you don't transform or use a gift, I'll be fine.'_ He tells himself sternly.

He straightens up and takes a few steps towards the main crowd. He pauses and turns his head. He gives Kim a questioning look and she just smiles at him before nodding at him. Kim grabs his left, an action which startles him, and Kim pulls him towards one of the food booths, he sighs as Kim lefts go of his hand. Kim looks slightly red in the face before she looks away from him. He smiles softly, warmth spread throughout his body. He knows he'll have to enjoy Kim as a human since once she transforms…

He shoves those kinds of thoughts from his mind, wanting to try and enjoy the night and to worry about everything else later. He could tell that there were a few Ridden in the crowd, but since he doesn't feel creep out, he figures that they're the spirits that made a bargain with one of his pack mates, seeing how Kyuubi's the only one allowed out of the fox spirits to make such deals. He pauses in thought for a moment, wondering what the rest of the pack is up to, since he's not around nor was he told what they're plans are about. _'Most likely doing things like hunting, patrolling, or doing things that their tribes are known for doing. I got a lot to learn about everything, not just about spirits but about this world period. I'm kind of at a disadvantage since everything is so new to me…'_ He thinks to himself, not that he has any real regrets about growing up in Hidden Leaf, it's just that he's not use to such large populations or the shear variety of cultures that could make up a city.

He once more gives himself a shake, keeping his thoughts on the here and now. He has plenty of time to wallow in such thoughts at a later date. He's determined to enjoy Kim's company and by Red Wolf, he shall.

/?/Lance

Jeremy, Jenny, and Rachel were busy training in the art of knife throwing, mostly because it's something to do with the vast array of knifes, daggers, and other kinds of sharp pointed object Naruto's collected off of street gangs and just plain raiding those same gang's weapon stashes through the stretch of their territory. Truthfully, it kind of unnerves him about the amount of weapons Naruto's been able to find and he's not even going to mention the types of guns, bullet cartages, and bombs Naruto's brought home out of curiosity and just for display. He got a hunch that Naruto's never used a gun or a bomb before, seeing as Naruto seems to prefer sharp, pointy objects that were often knife shaped.

Anyway, Kurt's currently off chatting with an unidentified spirit, this spirit just showed up about three days ago, living at the southern edge of the territory. Kurt's hoping that the spirit might know something concerning a Fetish the Bone Shadow is interested in creating. Kurt's been looking to practice Fetish making about the time he was rescued from those vampires. He figured that Kurt had made an imperfect Fetish and had used it on those vampires in order to even the score between them. He still not sure what happened to the threesome, but if Kurt's satisfied about what he did to them, then he's not going to push it since he's a firm believer that if someone wants you to know about something, they'll tell you.

He glances to where Juliana was meditating, his fellow tribesmen was trying to think up ways to improve the park closest to their head quarters. Personally, he figures that unless they're going to start driving humans out of the park, they're going to have to come to terms with the fact that there isn't much they can do to improve it; they're most likely better off thinking of trying to clean out the types of humans that attract negative spirits, since that'll improve the territory more then them strengthening the park. Sure, he knows that the Hunters in Darkness prefer to stalk places where humans don't normally go, but there are other places in the territory that need their attention. Like for example, the historical manor that's usually home to a branches of metal and glass Artificial spirits since they're 'bodies' are often on display since it's kind of a museum and it's not a place where anything too violent took place, not like that old courthouse that's located two blocks from the warehouse district.

He shakes his head and stretches his arms before glancing away, towards the fountain that's a few feet away from where they're hanging out. There had been a gang of punks hanging around but on seeing them those kids kind of took off without too much haste since they were friends of Naruto and none of them want to know what they're capable of, though he had been in his Urhan. He gets up off the grass and begins to walk towards the fountain. He pauses as he notices a Claimed pigeon resting of the statue's feet.

He takes a sniff and notices the scent of rain; he guesses that the pigeon has merged with either a water elemental spirit or an air spirit. "So, you're spying on us, huh?" He muses softly and the scent changes to one of an impending storm. (You think you're safe just because a Beast Lord aids you? I'd watch my back if I were you, half breed for the Pure are beginning to wonder what the previous pack is doing and why they haven't journeyed to a Gathering in a little over a year.) The Claimed bird taunts, he glares at the Claimed but doesn't answer the bird.

It takes a few minutes before the Claimed realises that he's not going to take the bait and launches from its perch, flying off into the night sky. _'Hope an owl gets him.'_ He thinks darkly to himself before heading back to where the others were, he doesn't wonder if whether the Claimed bird was telling the truth or not since it's a given that it's long pass due for the surrounding Pure to come and check up on this piece of territory.

'_I wonder if Naruto's having fun at that Rave Kim took him to.'_ He wonders suddenly and grins wickedly since it's unlikely that an Uratha would enjoy being close to that many human, let alone all of that music either. He knew that Naruto wasn't in touch with the world but to willingly go to a Rave makes him wonder where Naruto's been hiding out for the greater part of his life.

/?/Naruto

He swears that these people were insane! He can't understand why they would have the music blaring so loudly that they'd have to either scream to talk over the music or to remain close enough to whoever they're talking to. Even if he weren't an Uratha, he'd find this whole thing to be overwhelming with where he grew up.

In the last hour he's been cursing his lot in life on arriving to this realm from his birth village where everyone wanted him dead but there wasn't any of this self inflicting deafening to this realm where everyone seems to have some kind of death wish with their usage of drugs and alcohol! _'I can't believe the things they do to their bodies when they know what the results are! I know that ninjas don't live long and Uratha live even less that, but damn, these people are determined to live very short lives in their personal highs. Also, could they get any ruder?'_ He wonders as he allows himself to be pulled through the horde of humanity with loads of people invading his personal space and if it weren't for him being more dazed from the booming music he might have lashed out and created a scene from all of this contact with all of these humans.

"You ok?" Kim says as he finds them by the edge of crowd and in a shadowy area. "Not really, this is just so over whelming. Also, why is it that everyone wants to destroy their bodies by using known drugs that cause unmentionable harm?" He wonders as he tries to recover from his culture shock.

Kim gives him a questioning look before she shrugs her shoulders. "There are times when I think you're some kind of alien." Kim muses and he chuckles slightly on hearing that. "I'm still not use to this city." He admits with a sigh, looking off into the distance, far from the party going on behind them. "One would think that you've seen movies about the USA while living in Japan." Kim says lightly and he gives Kim a studying look, he get this feeling that she's fishing for information or really wanting to know about where he really came from, which he doubts isn't a good idea since it's highly doubtful that he'll ever return to that world.

"I lived in a very isolated life in the village that I was born to. I was an orphan, you know, and had other things to do then sit in front of the TV, you know. Besides, there was a whole lot more forests surrounding the village so I spent a lot of time wandering around the edge of the village unsupervised." He says and Kim blinks but that seems to satisfy her curiosity, for now anyway.

They kind of stood there for a few more minutes, not saying anything as they lose themselves in their own thoughts. He perks up as he hears something from the shadows ahead of them, to the left. He moves slightly to stand between Kim and who ever is watching them from the shadows. He glances at the shadow, using one of his gifts to change his eyes so he can see more clearly in the night.

There's a slight chuckle coming from the shadowy figure, a man steps out and though he can't catch the man's scent, he knows that this man wasn't human simply from the way he walk until he was eight feet from them. "Long time no see, cousin. So, who's your 'friend'?" The man asks and his hand automatically goes to his right hip, even though there isn't a weapon pouch resting there.

"Hey Nate, I'm surprised you didn't phone ahead." Kim says, but he moves to block Kim's view of her cousin. Nate narrows his eyes at his action and he says, "You'll not claim her, _rat_." He spat the word rat out and the way 'Nate' bristles at the word told him that his assumption was right, this was someone either Possessed or Claimed, he was thinking more along the lines of Possessed though as a shadowy figure of humanoid rat appears about half a foot above the man's head before it seeps back into the human body it's using.

"A filthy haft thing like you think you can keep me from my appointed task? You're barely hit puberty let alone have the experience to 'deal' with me." The spirit says, using Nate's voice without an underlining hint of the rat spirit that's residing within the human shell. "I might be out of my league but she's part of my pack, rodent. Besides, do you really want to deal with Kyuubi for killing me?" He asks and he notices smugly that the spirit flinched on hearing the fox lord's name.

"He won't know it was me." The Possessed man says after a few minutes of thinking about it and he snorts. "Then how about dealing with the son he left behind to watch over this area?" He asks and the rat possessed man stiffens and slowly turns around to confront Koic the three tailed fox spirit stands behind the man. Koic growls out in the First Tongue, (Hello vermin.) "Can't we talk this over?" The rat possessed man manages to squeaks out before Koic charges forth and the fox's jaws go right through the man's chest.

The three tailed fox pulls the squirming rat spirit from Nate's body, the mass of flesh and bone falls to the ground while the rat spirit finally manages to make Koic let him go and the rat tries to head into the Hisil but Koic manages to cripple the spirit before it could. It's not long before Koic has consumed the rat and he nods his thanks to Koic before the fox spirit vanishes back to where he came from, leaving Kim and him alone with the body of her cousin, who is most likely going to die by the time dawn arrives.


	12. Chapter 12

Times of Portals

**Call of the Hunt**

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

--

"English"

'_Thoughts'_

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese**"**

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

--

Chapter 12

He studies the group of twenty-three Pure standing at the entrance to the park. It's been two weeks since the Halloween incident and still Kyuubi wasn't back yet, which makes him wonder if this was planned out by those Shadow Lords that the nine-tailed fox had went to visit. _'I just know that Kyuubi is going to be pissed off about this.'_ He muses as he remains calm in the face of overwhelming odds.

He glances around at his pack and then at the three water elemental spirits standing with Koic, those three spirits had decided to aid them as a way to gain more favour with Kyuubi as well as to have Kioc owe them one as well. It was unheard of for free spirits to help out in a fight directly but then, when it came to his pack, they seem to either bend the rules or make new ones. He also takes time to study the enemy's totem spirit, which has taken the form of a giant decaying grizzly bear; he can tell it's a grizzly because it has a hump. He guesses it's a diseased spirit and that would mean that most of the Pure were likely to be of the Fire-Touched.

He's the only one for his pack to remain in his human form, the rest of them were in their Urshul body. He knows the Pure pack standing before them thought this was going to be a walk in the park but he has more then a few tricks up his sleeve and he's not going to hold back, he has more then a few jutsus he wants to experiment with and now's a good a time as any to see if they'll work the way he thinks they should. _'Even if they don't, they should do something help out with this battle.'_ He muses to himself; he can't keep a wicked smirk from his face and a slight look of bloodlust from his blue eyes.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to show you just how much you guys have fucked up when you decided to show up in our territory." He says with confidence and he hears Jeremy whisper to Jenny and Rachel, (You'd think we're the ones with the advantage here.) He hears Jenny snort softly but the Alpha of the challenging pack says, a greying wolf, (You've got spunk, we'll give you that. Pity you happened to join the wrong side.)

He snorts and says in a dangerously soft tone, "You can't possibly imagine what I'm capable of, let alone what my subordinates are capable of. You think you're hot but we aren't the ones needing a pack of twenty to deal with a pack numbering less then ten members." That caused most of the enemy pack to bristle and one of the more scarred members growls out, (You'll pay for that traitorous scum of the Moon bitch!)

The Alpha charges at him before the larger, more scarred long members could. He makes a simple hand sign and the Essence he was gathering lashes out as he shouts out in Japanese, **"**Flare!**"** The Essence moves from within him and surges at the charging Alpha, there's yelps of surprise from both sides as the flames begin to burn the Alpha's body as his attack burns the Alpha's fur. (What the fuck did he do? And how did he do it?) One of the Pure asks.

The enemy pack backs up slightly, they watch as the fire burns itself out. He can tell that the Alpha was still alive but it's clear that the enemy lost its head since the Pure Uratha were not as charged up as they were before nor did it help that some of the larger ones were eyeing each other with a glint of suspicion and calculation. He wonders how long it'll before the burnt skin falls off to reveal fresh and healthy skin, he doesn't know how fast the fur will grow back though, but it's unlikely that it'll be within the hour.

"Not so cocky now, are ya?" He muses, snapping everyone from their thoughts. Another greying wolf snaps back, (So you have a few tricks up your sleeve, you can't use it now that we know about it.) He chuckles at that and replies, "You think I'm stupid, gramps? Oops, I forgot, you guys are just mad dogs that are a step above Bale Hounds."

That set them off, in their fury they forgot to remember they were dealing with a pack, not a single individual and thus it gave his pack mates time to choice which of the Pure they want to engage while the spirits also engaged in their own battle. He managed to use his Essence to augment his speed, allowing him to nimbly evade their jaws within the last few seconds. He fought the urge to transform, he need to remain the target of their aggression since unlike himself, his pack mates and friends have never had to deal with a mob before.

He remembers all of the times he managed to grow used to the mobs back when he was living in Hidden Leaf. He had learnt long ago not to freeze when faced with overwhelming foes, even if he never did fight back. Sure he knew he couldn't avoid getting injured from this, but his plan was working as more of his pack mates manage to force one of the Pure unconscious by restricting the air follow, doing a simple throat hold as their foes most likely trying to launch attacks at him. He's glad that they were able to keep from killing their foes, it was a sin to kill their own kind and he doesn't want them to deal with that, will, not yet at any rate so he used the Pure instinct against them by giving them a 'weak' target to focus on.

He is sent flying as a stray attack hits the edge of the group. He has countless bleeding cuts from biting attacks from the Pure. He sighs and once he's standing up, he straightens up and closes his eyes. He envisions a pool of mud within his mind's eye and as he hears a growl, his hands were already going through ten hand signs. He opens his eyes as he feels the Essence he gathered expands out of his body. The two charging Uratha stubble as the ground gave way, it's not long before the area within twenty feet of him also transforms into a vast area of muck.

Within twenty seconds the ground hardens again, trapping not only Pure but also his pack mates. He flushes in embarrassment but he can't help but collapse onto the ground. He listen to the efforts of not only the Pure but of his pack mates as they attempt to get out of the harden ground. He glances upwards to watch the battle occurring between the five spirits. It's not long before the bear looking spirit vanishes, thus admitting defeat.

It takes a few minutes before he feels much more energetic and he then stands up. He looks at the various Uratha around him and he snorts softly. "So, you want me to cut off your heads or will you surrender?" He asks the enemy pack and they all growl in response. "You're all a bunch of idiots and cowards. What do you say Koic? You are in charge of this kind of matter until your father gets back, what do you want to do with them?" He asks the three tailed navy blue fox spirit.

Koic cocks his head to the side as the fox studies the Uratha trapped in the ground. (Half of them were killed in the fight.) The fox says and he sighs, he turns away as the fox spirit lands and with a simple crack, Koic kills one of the Pure biting the Uratha's head off, because Kyuubi's their patron spirit, the foxes don't do much to him and the pack but the hatred that all spirits have for the half flesh wolves remains just below the surface, waiting to be released or expressed.

It's not long before only ten of the Pure are spared by Koic and those he knocks out by using Essence to increase his strength. With them being dealt with, he helps his pack mates get out of the ground. "Can't you guys just transform into your Urhan forms to get out of this?" He wonders as he helps Kurt get out of the ground. (I've tried to transform but something about this keeps me from transforming.) Juliana snaps and he blinks in stunned surprised. (I'm guessing that's why none of them entered into Kuruth.) Kurt muses and he blinks before he nods in agreement, he hadn't thought about them going into Kuruth when he preformed the jutsu…

It's not long before he grew tired of using his Hishu's hands and transforms them into the clawed hands of his Dalu form by using the Gift of Partial Change. He glances every so often at the crispy Alpha he fried, wondering when that one will wake…

o!o

He sighs as he stares up at the night sky; it's been slightly hectic two days since they sent the Pure Uratha packing out of their lands within the Hisil. He still remembers the questions that he was bombarded with about what he did to the ground a few hours after the attempted slaughter of the pack. He stuck with the truth for the most part; he had been experimenting with using his Essence in ways beyond using it to power his Gifts.

Surprisingly, after explaining to them how to use raw Essence to augment their speed or strength it wasn't long before they've mastered that ability though he's been issued warning about meddling with his Essence any more then what he had been, they didn't want him exploding when he forces raw Essence out of his body like he did in his attempts to use Essence like chakra when he tries to uses his jutsus. It didn't help matters when they informed Kim about the dangers and she managed to get him to feel guilty about keeping that under wraps, which makes him wonder if that's the reason why Jenny and Rachel told her in the first place…

'_I'll never understand women.'_ He muses to himself as he brings himself out of that memory of his confrontation with Kim. He also didn't really get what Kim meant about why blonds were stupid but he didn't really take offence to it since he rather not have Kim explain it to him, he keep silent about the reference.

'_I can't wait for things to return to normal once Kyuubi returns.'_ He muses to himself. He can't help but wonder what's keeping the nine-tail fox lord, he knows meeting can drag on and on but still, he kind of pegged the fox as the impatient type as well as someone would prefers action over discussion. _'Well, hopefully he'll return before the Pure launch another attack our way.'_ He hopes, while Koic was a nice change when it comes to dealing with any of Kyuubi's offspring, he finds himself missing the red fox lord since through his whole life, the fox had been his constant companion whether he was aware of it or not.

/?/Joe "Blackcrop" Harrison

He can't help but feel ashamed at having been outwitted by a boy just entering into puberty. Not only did he get knocked out within seconds of leading the charge but over half of his pack was killed by the three tailed fox spirit and it seems as if they never stood a chance to defend themselves because of something keeping them trapped within the ground, it kept them from transforming, let alone entering into Kuruth before the fox spirit bites their heads off. They heard rumours about an exiled lord being the patron of a pack belonging to the Moon bitch followers but he only scoffed whenever he heard about it, if anything it's more likely that a spirit lord would hook up with a Pure pack then a pack of the murders but then, all of the fox spirits have grown hostile towards them, so much so that they have reports of groups of fox spirit tearing through the bond entrapping fox spirits in fetishes.

'_And now it was a fox spirit that killed our pack-mates, not the Moon bitch's slaves but a free thinking spirit. Bear-of-Poisoned-Fur wasn't just fighting that fox spirit in a one on one battle but those non-enslaved elemental spirits aided the three tailed fox. Why in the hell would those elemental spirits aid that pack? What was promised to them?'_ He wonders, he runs a hand over the top of his head; his hair was still trying to fill out despite the time between when he was engulfed in flames to now, which makes him wonder just what the blond Uratha had done to make his hair and fur grow so slowly.

He glances around the restaurant owned by Purging Flames Unbound pack, the owner was someone he went through intimation into the Izidaka with, one Vickor "Thorn-coat" Dodson. He nods to his buddy; Thorn-coat could be described as an old battle axe with gunmetal-gray eyes. Thorn-coat's hair is white with age for the man was four years his senior. The cloths that Thorn-coat's is wearing a faded out gray shirt under a fading brown leather jacket and wearing black cargo pants with a empty dagger sheath hanging from the belt.

As long as he's known Vickor "Thorn-coat" Dodson, his friend has always worn that sheath without a dagger in it, he use to bug his friend about it but Thorn-coat would only answer that their tribal patron, Gurim-Ur or Rabid Wolf, bid him to wear it as thus. Thorn-coat smiles warmly at him and he gets up to shake his old friend's hand, he has hopes that his friend might help him make sense of what happened during that confrontation that occurred two weeks ago. By now, news of what happened to his pack has most likely spread from pack to pack, so it's reasonable that his friend knows about it and would have had time to think about it.

They exchange pleasantries for the first hour, reminiscing about past victories and when they're reflects were so much more sharper though they were so much more fool hardy. It wasn't long before a comfortable silence hung between Thorn-coat and himself. Refills for their drinks appeared in a timely fashion, considering that Thorn-coat was the owner this was only to be expected.

"So, how did a pack of wet behind the ears rodents manage to not only drive off a pack of harden veterans but lose a little more then over half of their number?" Thorn-coat finally asks after five minutes of silence. He takes a sip of his beer and answers honestly, "That's what we'd all like to know. Honestly, their leader wasn't even thirteen and was kind of runty for his age. The kid did two tricks using raw Essence and well… My coat was burnt to a crisp and is still taking its sweet time growing back in and everyone but their Alpha became trapped in the ground and found they were unable to transform. The fox and the leader chatted and then the fox bit off members of my pack heads off."

Thorn-coat gives him a look of disbelief and he shrugs. "That's the gist of it, though we're still confused as to why three water spirits would aid the three tailed fox though." He adds once he sips from his glass of beer. "Were they bound to fetishes?" Thorn-coat asks, he's heard that question plenty of times since his pack got back onto pack land. "No, they were free from them and it didn't look like they were bribed either. They aided them willingly." He replies.

"'Mark him well, Heed his action, Words and Deeds.'" Thorn-coat muses softly as his old friend quotes the words of the old prophet Stalks-in-Green, he glances questioningly at his friend, noting the gazed look in his friend's eyes. He doesn't know what brought Thorn-coat to think of that prophecy at a time like this. "How many Uratha were in this pack you tried to dethrone?" Thorn-coat asks and he answers easily, "Seven members, though our totem spirit mentioned that there's a nuzusul that seems to be hanging around with the pack."

He believes that the nuzusul was most likely dating one of the pack members and that's why the local nuzusul was hanging about. "So when that one transforms, that'll make it eight." Thorn-coat muses out loud and he snorts. "We'll most likely be able to convince them to join us, it's not like they're stupid enough to tell someone who's not even an Uratha yet what's about to happen, right? Besides, the spirits prefer us Pure to the Moon bitches slaves, they'll keep us informed of when this nuzusul will be transforming and we'll rescue her before they taint her too much." He assures his friend, though for some odd reason, Thorn-coat doesn't look convinced.

"Maybe but don't you find it odd that our totems and our tribal patrons didn't want us to move against this pack right away? I think we just missed our chance of routing this pack out of that area and it remains to be seen if we'll ever get another chance to. Usually our totems and patrons would be ranting and raving over this defeat and yet, they remain strangely silent on this matter. There's something going on and I believe this pack is either going to be the center of it or at least, be the instrumental in fulfilling that prophecy that Stalks-in-Green recited before her death. It doesn't help that the Urdaga also received this same prophecy, word for word." His friend muses softly; he shivers slightly for some unknown reason.

He can't help but notice just how aged his friend was and he glances away, wanting to be rid of the feelings of uncertainty. He doesn't receive comfort from the surroundings either, he stares at the dart board where a picture of the full moon is pinned up. He could only imagine what that Moon bitch as in store for the Urdaga… for them all.


End file.
